IDSA Game Industry Report [06:09 pm]
20 Comments / Flat / DThread - Steve Gibson
Eric J. sent word that the IDSA has just released their report for the
gaming industry that has all kinds of interesting stats that you can look
through. Here are a few of the latest ones that are of interest:
- 57% men and 43% women breakdown of gameplayers
- $6.02billion worth of game sales in 2000 and 219million games
- 42% over 35, 30% between 18 and 35 and 28% under 18 years old for computer
game players
- Computer games are 2/1 more popular as a "most fun activity"
as polled by 1600 households over TV
- 21.35% Strategy / RPG , - 17.42% Action , - 14.95% Sports Sim , - 12.57%
Family/kids - 10.08% Racing , - 23.53% Misc Categories
More Gaming
Valve's Spectator Client [05:13 pm] 5 Comments
ShackES has gotten some more details from Valve Software about the upcoming
spectator client that will be shown at CPL by Valve and released onto
the net sometime after that for everyone.
New MW4 Map [02:08 pm] 4 Comments
The Mech Warrior 4 site is offering a new multiplayer map for this game
called Hogsback. The map is a 900kb download and supports several game
modes. Thanks Blues News.
No TF2 @ E3 [04:33 pm]
84 Comments / Flat / DThread - Maarten Goldstein
For anyone hoping Team Fortress 2 wouldn't be too far off, Stomped is
reporting that Sierra and Valve won't be showing the game at the upcoming
E3 (May 17 - 19). TF2 was not shown at last year's E3 either. The Playstation2
version of Half-Life, in development at Gearbox, will be on display.
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OpFlash Screenshots [04:23 pm] 5 Comments
If you haven't seen enough Operation Flashpoint screenshots yet, there
are eight more on OperationFlashpoint.com taken from the press demo.
New LOD Screenshot [02:33 pm] 2 Comments
Yet another Lord of Destruction screenshot is up at Blizzard, showing
another scene from this Diablo 2 expansion pack.
Warcraft3 Preview [01:11 pm] 5 Comments
The FiringSquad has a new Warcraft3 preview, based on a recent look at
the game at the Blizzard offices. There are several new screenshots from
this 3D RTS as well as gameplay details.
Serious Sam Sales [11:21 am] 57 Comments
According to the Adrenaline Vault, Serious Sam has done some pretty good
sales in it's first week as it has joined the PC Game sales list at place
9.
OMF Interview [11:17 am] 2 Comments
Action Trip has an interview with Saul Bottcher of the One Must Fall:
Battlegrounds team. Saul is working on the OMF soundtrack. There are also
five new screenshots from this 3D fighting game.
The Future of Black & White [02:34 pm]
104 Comments / Flat / DThread - Maarten Goldstein
Gamespot has a brief Q&A with Peter Molyneux of Lionhead, asking about
planned patches and addons for Black & White. Here's the list of additions
they are working on
- LAN Spawn: Ability to play games over a LAN with
only one CD.
- Creature Dancing: Creature dancing to MP3 music or CD music.
- Village Banter: Ability to zoom in and hear villagers talking to each
other.
- Soccer: Villagers play soccer if their relaxation is high.
- Sandbox Land: A landscape with no computer opponent to allow the player
to play around.
- Map Editor: Enables people to create their own landscapes.
- Creature Skin Editor: Allows players to create their own creature skins
and use them in multiplayer.
Lionhead hopes to release new addons about every week on BWGame.com. Also in about 3 weeks they'll be announcing details on an addon disc.
Game Product Placement [01:25 pm]
84 Comments / Flat / DThread - Maarten Goldstein
Inside.com has an article about product placement in video-games and how
more publishers are getting interested in this alternative revenue source.
The article mainly focuses on console games but of course it could be
applied to the popular PC games as well. While for most publishers its
still just a nice addition but not anything making them rich, companies
like Electronic Arts are looking at covering the cost of development just
through in-game advertising for some of their games. Especially since
some games sell millions, the advertisers reach a big group of people.
What would you think about more advertising in games, where all the fake
billboards are actually replaced by real ads?
What's more, fans seem to be taking the ads in stride, as another reflection of pop-culture reality. ''In games like Crazy Taxi, product placement is so excessive that it almost feels like a joke,'' says Bryan Younce, a 24-year-old gamer in Los Angeles. ''It just seems like the natural course of things.'' Adds Heather Berry, editor at Happypuppy.com, a gaming fan site, ''If gamers like the game, they don't care about the product placement.'' ...
More Tech
More On NVidia/Kyro2 [11:46 am] 34 Comments
Rivastation and 3DGPU both have some clarifications from NVidia about
the Kyro2 dissing. Basically the document was for their sales team, not
retailers.
US Government & Games [08:34 am]
223 Comments / Flat / DThread - Steve Gibson
Ok this oughta piss some people off around here for sure. Most people
here probably remember the Surgeon General a while back putting out a
paper concluding that there is no connection between violence in computer
games altering behavior of people. Well I'm guessing the Surgeon General
needs to have a talk with the US Attorney General. Look at this: (Thanks
Mike)
Attorney General John Ashcroft Wednesday highlighted video games, television and even a game called "Dope Wars" that can be downloaded on the Internet as examples of the "the culture of violence" that may have contributed to a spate of recent deadly school shootings. [...] Ashcroft said a school shooter in Paducah, Kentucky, had never used a gun before, but played violent video games which simulated shootings.
The topic has been beaten to death really, but it's really strange to be getting such hugely differeing mixed signals from the government about their stance on computer games.
CS Update Soon [08:33 am]
50 Comments / Flat / DThread - Steve Gibson
The official Counter-Strike website has been updated with further confirmation
of the problems with the current Counter-Strike code and players not hitting
where they think they should be hitting (or at all). Here was my original
story and then a follow-up yesterday.
We just want everyone to know that the CS Team and Valve are aware of the CS 1.1 Hitbox and Crouching bugs pointed out in various "CS dissections." These fixes will be included with CS 1.2, if not sooner. We'll announce right here on the site when this will be available
Views
Rune Expansion Interview [10:24 am] 1 Comments
There's a new Rune expansion interview on Stomped. JCal talks to Timothy
Gerritsen about the Halls Of Valhalla pack. There are new screenshots
included.
Ask Sweeney [08:42 am] 8 Comments
Tim Sweeney of Epic Games answers quite a few questions about his opinions
on X-Box, the .NET project, and all those other questions that you'd expect
him to be asked.
Gaming
X-Box & Developers [08:46 am] 5 Comments
It looks like Microsoft is having some troubles with the X-Box and developer
support, enough that it cause the stock market to shake up a little bit.
(Of course I could light a fart and they would panic in the stock market)
but anyways here you go.
Q3 Generations Update [08:32 am] 15 Comments
The Generations Arena website has been updated with shots from the Doom
weapons that they have completed. Generations Arena is a Quake3 mod bringing
the feeling and gameplay of previous id games to Quake3. They do promise
to be "all-new, completely legal, and fox-free."
Tribes2 & EAX [08:29 am] 20 Comments
Thanks to Conan Ford for the word that according to some posts on the
Tribal War Tribes2 forum, anyone running a < 800mhz machine should
turn off EAX which will certainly increase your FPS by a good amount.
Serious Sam Tutorials [08:26 am] 3 Comments
For all the Serious Sam mappers out there, there are two new mapping tutorials.
First one is making bounce pads and another is for water and translucent
surfaces.
Tech
New AMD Prices [08:41 am] 11 Comments
The Inquirer is reporting of the latest AMD processor prices. They are
getting silly cheap. Thunderbird 750 for $95, and the 1.3Ghz Tbird for
a mere $220. Read the news update for the rest of the prices. Wow.
werd [08:20 am]
2719 Comments / Flat / DThread - Steve Gibson
So the shower head busted at the apartment here the other day. The chick
and I (I forget her name) run out and grab a new shower head. They were
all like $20 so we got this one super-cool looking one called a Teledyne
Mist or something. I'm not sure I've ever really been excited over a shower
head but it's just neeto ok? It has some wacky mist feature (duh) so you
dont have to deal with one side of your body being cold while your scorch
the other side with hot water. Ok I'm over it, I had to share.. and yes
I'm getting old. Urgh.
Everyone wish sHugamom well please. Get better soon mom!
IOTD: This poor lady, I wonder if anyone has broken the news to her. Thanks Jeff Wilson
Movie: either because I'm in love with your daughter or I have a newfound respect for life.
Wednesday April 4, 2001 Email News or Steve
Soul Calibur The Movie [10:04 pm]
127 Comments / Flat / DThread - Steve Gibson
Crazyness for the evening, a deal has just been signed for a Soul Calibur
movie. The budget has been set at $50million (!) according to the official
website of the director signed for the deal Sammo, Thanks Eurogamer
It's official--Sammo will be directing "Soul Calibur", based on Namco's video game. Namco is the company that brought us Pac-Man and Tekken (among other games). There isn't much information available yet since the agreement between the producers and Namco was signed on March 29, 2001, but the budget will be around $50 million US! With its medieval setting, shooting locations will probably be Eastern Europe and China. The film will probably have an international cast to reflect the global popularity of the game. Hopefully this film will get Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao involved in some capacity--a reunion of sorts. And of course this is what fans have been dying for all along. Rhythm & Hues will more than likely be the CG effects house for the project because of their relationship with Namco.
Evening Reading [07:57 pm]
2609 Comments / Flat / DThread - Steve Gibson
ER is something wonderful and magical sometimes. In fact ER will be attending
peace talks with the US and China and will probably resolve all of the
differences. We may even see some kind of cross cultural political orgies
among national leaders if we are lucky, that is how powerful ER is. Enough
to get a bunch of up tight old guys to get naked and nasty together. How
could you ask for more? Alright maybe this. Hey today is jumbo size!
- You gotta love 'reverse discrimination' or whatever
its called. Legal pissing matches over wearing a sweatshirt! yeah! Thanks
me!
- I need to link to boobie stories more often. Thanks Chulu
- Here is a surprise, according to this report the US is fully responsible
for the aircraft accident. Thanks (I guess) JayZee
- Hey an actual cool idea to use mobile phones! I want this damn it.
- Anyone think this guy would have done retarded things to himself even
without TV? Thanks Steven Garcia
- Grow a beard or go to jail punk! Like this guy is!
Lastly, is anyone still using Napster? I notice my pings are going down so I'm guessing not. hehe. Here's the latest on our poor dying Napster.
Counter-Strike Bugs & CPL [06:13 pm]
70 Comments / Flat / DThread - Steve Gibson
Late yesterday evening I posted a story about bugs in Counter-Strike that
basically had players not having shots go where they thought they were
going causing a good amount of unrest among the competitive players. Of
course the accusations of being 'whiners' etc came up but guess what,
it's true. I've gotten confirmations from both the CS team and CPL who
are working with them. Firstly here is quick quote from cliffe from Counter-Strike.net:
We are aware of the issue and are investigating it to resolve it
Also, Angel Munoz of the CPL had this to say:
Valve is committed to supporting the online gaming community and professional gaming, and the CPL knows that Valve is working to correct the reported software flaws in Counter-Strike before the upcoming SPEAKEASY.net $30,000 Counter-Strike Tournament.
Also earlier this morning there was a PR from CPL announcing that Valve has developed some new spectating software that will be shown at the event
More Gaming
Tribes2 Outage Tomorrow [05:26 pm] 39 Comments
According to Stomped the Tribes2 ingame news system is reporting the master
servers for Tribes2 will be down between 2 and 5am PST. The community
features will be improved during this time, and no games can be played.
New OSP Tourney [12:41 pm] 5 Comments
A new version of the OSP Tourney mod for Quake3 has been released. You
can see all the changes here. Thanks Adam Helms.
More Views
Another OpFlash Preview [05:09 pm] 4 Comments
XGR is the latest site to preview Operation Flashpoint. There are more
gameplay details and also 20 new screenshots.
New Anachronox Shots [04:11 pm] 13 Comments
Blues News has a set of eight new Anachronox screenshots, showing even
more from ION Storm's upcoming Quake2 engine powered RPG.
New Tomb Raider Trailer [02:37 pm] 42 Comments
Apple.com is now hosting the new Tomb Raider trailer, available as a small
240x128 movie, medium-sized 320x172 movie and a large 480x260 movie. You'll
need Quicktime to view the videos, but I took some screen grabs for those
of you without it.
D2 Expansion Beta Registration [02:16 pm]
44 Comments / Flat / DThread - Maarten Goldstein
Blizzard is now accepting beta testers for the Diablo2 expansion pack
Lord of Destruction. The beta will be a new stress test for Battle.net.
Only U.S. and Canadian residents can apply, and only about 2,500 people
will be selected (not on a first-come first-serve basis). Applications
are being accepted until April 11. For questions about this expansion
pack here is the FAQ (800x600 support!).
More Tech
NVidia Disses Kyro2 [12:51 pm] 76 Comments
Looks like NVidia loves to badmouth the competition. This time they are
focusing on keeping the Kyro2 away from retailers. The original PDF file
and a rebuttal can be found here.
New Planetside Screenshots [09:55 am]
39 Comments / Flat / DThread - Maarten Goldstein
The guys at Verant have released four new screenshots from their massively
multiplayer online action game Planetside. These four latest show off
more from the vehicles and also show a forest.
-Internet Explorer 6 Today
-UO2 Dead & A
-New Beginning?
-Thresh's GXL-
-Duke Nukem Movie
- TRIBES2 GONE GOLD!
-Black & White GONE GOLD!
-NOLF Mega Demo
-Unreal2 Images & Preview
-Unreal Engine Update
-Quake3 Death Bell?