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Fully clickable version here - http://play.game.net/newsletters/10thOctober.htm
GAME.NET News
If you've been reading these Newsletters over the past few months and been wondering how to get more involved with the GAME.NET community, perhaps to help generate more interest in your own particular game or to join our existing members who help organise things around here, then your time has come with the unveiling of our GAME Master system. To explain briefly, although the link has full details, the GAME Master role involves adopting a game, helping to oversee (in the case of FPS games) the servers we run for it and to grow the community within the GAME.NET service using the various tools & services we have.
As a GAME Master you'll be asked to perform a variety of tasks, one of these may even be to take on the role of a Head GAME Master and recruit your own army of helpers. In return for this you get not only get the enjoyment and satisfaction from seeing a community grow before your very eyes because of your own efforts but also fame (or is it infamy), the respect of your fellow gamers and a Free Subscription if you should need one. We already have a number of GAME Masters who have come across from the old BarrysWorld days of Public Admins so even if you aren't that experienced in your favourite game or some of the aspects of being a member of a gaming community (such as server commands or IRC) you can still sign up and help make a difference
.
Today sees the long overdue release of Halo, the legendary X-Box FPS / Action game finally making its way to the PC with support here on GAME.NET, two public servers available for you to try it out (locate them in your browser under the GAME name) with them both running the latest patch - v1.02. Bookable support should also be available shortly for all 38 (!) different gametypes.
This week has also seen us put up a server for the demo of FPS / RTS game Savage, there is no UK release date for the full game but the servers I've seen for it (including ours of course) have been packed which is a good sign, you can locate it in your browser under GAME.NET Preview - Savage Demo or by connecting to the IP 213.221.178.83:11235. A link to the demo can be found in the Files & Patches section below.
Server Updates this week are as follows, patches that you need to download are linked in the Files section below:
Half-Life Admin Mod updated to v2.50.58 (Steam Support)
Elite Force II updated to v1.1 (as of Saturday)
What's On
Sunday 12th October 2003
New Event >>> Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy @ 15:00 <<< New Event
Operation Flashpoint @ 17:00
Counter-Strike @ 20:00
Monday 13th October 2003
Elite Force II @ 19:00
Half-Life: Team Fortress Classic @ 21:00
Tuesday 14th October 2003
Battlefield 1942 @ 20:30
Vietcong @ 21:00
Wednesday 15th October 2003
Medal of Honor @ 19:00
Natural Selection @ 19:00
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory @ 20:00
Battlefield 1942: Desert Combat @ 21:00
Thursday 16th October 2003
Half-Life: Day of Defeat @ 20:30
Half Life: Team Fortress Classic (TFC) @ 21:00
Files and Patches
Trailers
A very busy week on the files front sees us start off with a couple of trailers for the upcoming LoTR-based RTS game War of the Rings that is released next month, the good and evil trailers (both about 12 MB) showing the different perspectives in this soon to be released game, although personally I think we have seen most of the stuff before in the number of other trailers that have already been released for the game. If the LoTR setting doesn't take your fancy then another RTS game called Empires - Dawn of the Modern World might be your cup of tea, this novel game seeing you take control of a civilization in the year 950 AD and then having to battle through several different time periods to establish your nation as the dominant world power. The two trailers (available here and here) come in at about 8 MB in size and are well worth a look with them covering the various weaponry that will be at your disposal during the course of your journey through 1,000 years of the world's history.
Alternative RTS fun can be found in the shape of Battle Mages, this Russian developed RTS game being set in a similar fantasy real to the War of the Rings game but the 35 MB trailer doesn't really give us a huge amount to go on with it being mostly non-game footage. Whilst not being an RTS game the Dungeon Siege series does operate in a fantasy universe and the original game won quite a few fans, hardly surprising therefore that a sequel is on the way in the shape of Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna and a small trailer for the game has been released as previews for it start to appear online on the various gaming news sites. That trailer looks nice enough but it is nowhere near as cinematic or gameplay filled as this 62 MB trailer for the Unreal-engine Lineage 2, the original game being a huge hit in Asia and this version targetting the USA Massively Multiplayer gaming audience with a beta release expected in the coming months, something I'm sure many European gamers are keeping an eye on seeing as it will possible for us to join in.
There isn't a lot to tie together remaining trailers this week but what they do all share in common is that they could be defined as 3D action adventures with them all putting you "outside" the body of the character you control. The first to mention is for Commandos style game Korea: Forgotten Conflict, you can download the 25 MB movie by clicking here and I would recommend that you do as the game looks as if it is had a lot of work done on the details, the basic outline being that you are in charge of a team of military specialists who are carrying out missions in the Korean War of the 1950's. You have to go further back in time to reach the era when Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is set, due out in December this updated version of the classic adventure game has created quite a buzz in the gaming community since it was shown off at E3 and it is easy to see why, some lush graphics and dynamic movement makes this one for the Christmas list with this small trailer showing off a selection of the traps you will have to avoid through the course of the levels.
Before we finish with a bang I should mention a 27 MB trailer for survival-horror game Resonance, I can't say I was hugely impressed by the graphics in this one but perhaps it might be enjoyable if played late at night with the lights off and the sound up. Impressed is certainly the word to use for what we have seen from Max Payne 2 so far, due out in just two weeks (and not in the middle of next year like Half-Life 2 appears to be now) there have been a couple of movies released in the past few days with another collection of in-game clips (available here) and an official trailer that tries to set the story whilst showing off as many explosions as you will find in a film starring the Governor of California, both files being around 40 MB in size.
Playable Demos
Demos galore this week to keep you up downloading until the wee small hours, hard to know where to start really although I guess seeing as I have been hyping up FPS game XIII I should mention that a multiplayer demo has been released for that game, coming in at 150 MB you can download it by clicking here and then grab this small patch to make sure everything runs okay. From the same genre comes Savage, this FPS game also combining elements of RTS play with our very own demo server up and running already for you to try out, the 140 MB client install file available to download here. Further cross-breeding of genres comes in the shape of Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown, a mix of action, RPG and strategy which has already been released in the US (a patch is available in the section below) and hits the UK in about a months time. You can see for yourself if the game suits your tastes by grabbing this 171 MB demo, I should mention it has had some positive feedback on our forums so perhaps one for the shortlist.
Time for something completely different now in the shape of a radio-controlled car simulator called RC Cars for which a 252 MB Single & Multiplayer demo has been released and is available to download here. This interesting spin on the driving simulation genre puts you in control of miniature vehicles as you race around a variety of real-world environments and compete in tournaments, the demo itself featuring a lot of game content to give you a good idea of what to expect from the full release. By contrast one game that you will probably never be able to get your hands on is Rail Runner, a 50 MB demo of which has been released (get it here) and gives you the chance to have a look at an early title from Hungarian developers ASK Homework who are now working on their own driving simulation.
The next demo to mention is the for the graphically funky Beyond Good and Evil, an adventure game set in a richly interactive fantasy world. The 104 MB demo gives you three levels from the final game to sample and you can get it by clicking here, although please note you may need to update your graphic drivers to the latest versions to get the best from it. Also available this week is a demo for Agon, an adventure game that is being released commercially on the internet in episodic fashion with the first episode being made available for purchase in the past week. With it likely to be many months until all the episodes are all available you are likely to get a massive amount of gameplay as each new part is unveiled and you can have a look at some of the first episode by downloading this 60 MB demo.
Game Patches
Free content is teh win! Starting off an extensive Patches section this week we have the 262 MB full Hidden & Dangerous Deluxe game which has been made freely available as an advertising gimmick for the upcoming Hidden & Dangerous 2 that is released later this month. Still retailing in the shops for a fiver you can download the full thing by clicking here, the WW2 based squad game putting you in control of a four-man SAS team as you carry out various covert ops missions with the mission pack "Fight for Freedom" included in this completely free package. Contrast this with the token offering for WarCraft 3 expansion pack Frozen Throne, another tiny bonus map released this week in the shape of "Typhoon", and I know which one I'll be downloading this week.
A load of recently released games get their first (or even second) bug-fix this week with the most prominent being Halo which has been updated to v1.02, the game being released today (Friday) in the UK so this file being a must-have for those of you who have decided to go for game that made the X-Box famous. Also getting a second patch is Tron 2.0, the 31 MB file taking it up to v1.030 and introducing better online server support, additional content and some fixes for those of you with ATI Radeon cards. Fellow FPS shooter Elite Force II has also been patched, our servers for this game should be updated in the next couple of days to v1.1 which comes in at just under 25 MB, this the final version of the beta patch we have been running on one of our Preview servers recently. Also new is a patch for WarHammer 40,000 based FPS game FireWarrior, you might have seen this one advertised on SKY ONE in the past few weeks and if you have picked up a copy you can get the 21 MB PCPatch by clicking here.
Another new game to get some fixes applied to it is squad based strategy game UFO: Aftermath, a title that many of you will compare to the X-COM series of games. The new version will take your game to v1.1a and fixes a number of minor issues, whilst if you are planning to purchase Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown when it comes out in a few weeks you might want to grab the v1.01 patch that has been released, storing the small update on your computer until the game drops through your door in a months time. At the other end of the release schedule if you happen to own a copy of Age of Mythology you will be pleased to know that another patch for it has been released, taking the game to v1.07 the small file will fix some crash issues, unit balance problems and includes some online tweaks.
Mods
Again a fairly quiet week on the mod front from what I can tell with the main update being for BattleField 1942 mod Forgotten Hope. This realism mod is aimed at tweaking various aspects of the original BattleField 1942 to make them more true to the real world with the addition of new vehicles and two entire new armies in the shape of the Italian and French forces, although rumours that there is a hidden "French" game-mode - where the winner is the person quickest to let the other team invade them - have yet to be proven true. The one thing I will say about this mod is that, whilst I'm all for mod making in the community, the fact that they released a 429 MB v0.5b which also required a 82.5 MB map pack, followed shortly by a 100 MB v0.5c and then a further v0.5d, does seem a little sloppy, but I guess these days 300 MB + mods and alpha versions of alpha releases are common place so it is something that gamers have to just accept if we want to find the odd gem that sticks around and really makes a name for itself.
Special Offers
Two hardware offers to bring you this week, starting off with the news that, following on from last week's Silver PS2 release and corresponding price drop of it and the Black PS2 to just £139.99, Nintendo have hit back to drop the price of their GameCube console to just £79.99. To celebrate this we are offering an assortment of bundles, personally I've never owned a console in my life but I'm now tempted to get one or the other as an early Christmas present.
You'll probably have seen the adverts already and as of this week it is finally here, of course I am talking about the Nokia N-Gage which is designed to act as Game Console, MP3 Player, Wireless Internet Browser and of course a Mobile Phone. Released a few months before Christmas the phonesole (as I like to call it) only has a limited number of games available at the moment but in the next few months more will be released, check out what is on offer by visiting our dedicated N-Gage section.
Regards,
Dave "BigFoot" Angus
GAME.NET Community Liaison
If you need any help or have any questions, we have a page set up to help you.
Please don't reply to this e-mail - we have all the support you need ready for you elsewhere.
http://www.game.net/
http://www.game.uk.com/
To Unsubscribe from this Community Newsletter simply go to this page, Logon and click the Unsubscribe button.
GAME.NET News
If you've been reading these Newsletters over the past few months and been wondering how to get more involved with the GAME.NET community, perhaps to help generate more interest in your own particular game or to join our existing members who help organise things around here, then your time has come with the unveiling of our GAME Master system. To explain briefly, although the link has full details, the GAME Master role involves adopting a game, helping to oversee (in the case of FPS games) the servers we run for it and to grow the community within the GAME.NET service using the various tools & services we have.
As a GAME Master you'll be asked to perform a variety of tasks, one of these may even be to take on the role of a Head GAME Master and recruit your own army of helpers. In return for this you get not only get the enjoyment and satisfaction from seeing a community grow before your very eyes because of your own efforts but also fame (or is it infamy), the respect of your fellow gamers and a Free Subscription if you should need one. We already have a number of GAME Masters who have come across from the old BarrysWorld days of Public Admins so even if you aren't that experienced in your favourite game or some of the aspects of being a member of a gaming community (such as server commands or IRC) you can still sign up and help make a difference
.Today sees the long overdue release of Halo, the legendary X-Box FPS / Action game finally making its way to the PC with support here on GAME.NET, two public servers available for you to try it out (locate them in your browser under the GAME name) with them both running the latest patch - v1.02. Bookable support should also be available shortly for all 38 (!) different gametypes.
This week has also seen us put up a server for the demo of FPS / RTS game Savage, there is no UK release date for the full game but the servers I've seen for it (including ours of course) have been packed which is a good sign, you can locate it in your browser under GAME.NET Preview - Savage Demo or by connecting to the IP 213.221.178.83:11235. A link to the demo can be found in the Files & Patches section below.
Server Updates this week are as follows, patches that you need to download are linked in the Files section below:
Half-Life Admin Mod updated to v2.50.58 (Steam Support)
Elite Force II updated to v1.1 (as of Saturday)
What's On
Sunday 12th October 2003
New Event >>> Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy @ 15:00 <<< New Event
Operation Flashpoint @ 17:00
Counter-Strike @ 20:00
Monday 13th October 2003
Elite Force II @ 19:00
Half-Life: Team Fortress Classic @ 21:00
Tuesday 14th October 2003
Battlefield 1942 @ 20:30
Vietcong @ 21:00
Wednesday 15th October 2003
Medal of Honor @ 19:00
Natural Selection @ 19:00
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory @ 20:00
Battlefield 1942: Desert Combat @ 21:00
Thursday 16th October 2003
Half-Life: Day of Defeat @ 20:30
Half Life: Team Fortress Classic (TFC) @ 21:00
Files and Patches
Trailers
A very busy week on the files front sees us start off with a couple of trailers for the upcoming LoTR-based RTS game War of the Rings that is released next month, the good and evil trailers (both about 12 MB) showing the different perspectives in this soon to be released game, although personally I think we have seen most of the stuff before in the number of other trailers that have already been released for the game. If the LoTR setting doesn't take your fancy then another RTS game called Empires - Dawn of the Modern World might be your cup of tea, this novel game seeing you take control of a civilization in the year 950 AD and then having to battle through several different time periods to establish your nation as the dominant world power. The two trailers (available here and here) come in at about 8 MB in size and are well worth a look with them covering the various weaponry that will be at your disposal during the course of your journey through 1,000 years of the world's history.
Alternative RTS fun can be found in the shape of Battle Mages, this Russian developed RTS game being set in a similar fantasy real to the War of the Rings game but the 35 MB trailer doesn't really give us a huge amount to go on with it being mostly non-game footage. Whilst not being an RTS game the Dungeon Siege series does operate in a fantasy universe and the original game won quite a few fans, hardly surprising therefore that a sequel is on the way in the shape of Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna and a small trailer for the game has been released as previews for it start to appear online on the various gaming news sites. That trailer looks nice enough but it is nowhere near as cinematic or gameplay filled as this 62 MB trailer for the Unreal-engine Lineage 2, the original game being a huge hit in Asia and this version targetting the USA Massively Multiplayer gaming audience with a beta release expected in the coming months, something I'm sure many European gamers are keeping an eye on seeing as it will possible for us to join in.
There isn't a lot to tie together remaining trailers this week but what they do all share in common is that they could be defined as 3D action adventures with them all putting you "outside" the body of the character you control. The first to mention is for Commandos style game Korea: Forgotten Conflict, you can download the 25 MB movie by clicking here and I would recommend that you do as the game looks as if it is had a lot of work done on the details, the basic outline being that you are in charge of a team of military specialists who are carrying out missions in the Korean War of the 1950's. You have to go further back in time to reach the era when Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is set, due out in December this updated version of the classic adventure game has created quite a buzz in the gaming community since it was shown off at E3 and it is easy to see why, some lush graphics and dynamic movement makes this one for the Christmas list with this small trailer showing off a selection of the traps you will have to avoid through the course of the levels.
Before we finish with a bang I should mention a 27 MB trailer for survival-horror game Resonance, I can't say I was hugely impressed by the graphics in this one but perhaps it might be enjoyable if played late at night with the lights off and the sound up. Impressed is certainly the word to use for what we have seen from Max Payne 2 so far, due out in just two weeks (and not in the middle of next year like Half-Life 2 appears to be now) there have been a couple of movies released in the past few days with another collection of in-game clips (available here) and an official trailer that tries to set the story whilst showing off as many explosions as you will find in a film starring the Governor of California, both files being around 40 MB in size.
Playable Demos
Demos galore this week to keep you up downloading until the wee small hours, hard to know where to start really although I guess seeing as I have been hyping up FPS game XIII I should mention that a multiplayer demo has been released for that game, coming in at 150 MB you can download it by clicking here and then grab this small patch to make sure everything runs okay. From the same genre comes Savage, this FPS game also combining elements of RTS play with our very own demo server up and running already for you to try out, the 140 MB client install file available to download here. Further cross-breeding of genres comes in the shape of Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown, a mix of action, RPG and strategy which has already been released in the US (a patch is available in the section below) and hits the UK in about a months time. You can see for yourself if the game suits your tastes by grabbing this 171 MB demo, I should mention it has had some positive feedback on our forums so perhaps one for the shortlist.
Time for something completely different now in the shape of a radio-controlled car simulator called RC Cars for which a 252 MB Single & Multiplayer demo has been released and is available to download here. This interesting spin on the driving simulation genre puts you in control of miniature vehicles as you race around a variety of real-world environments and compete in tournaments, the demo itself featuring a lot of game content to give you a good idea of what to expect from the full release. By contrast one game that you will probably never be able to get your hands on is Rail Runner, a 50 MB demo of which has been released (get it here) and gives you the chance to have a look at an early title from Hungarian developers ASK Homework who are now working on their own driving simulation.
The next demo to mention is the for the graphically funky Beyond Good and Evil, an adventure game set in a richly interactive fantasy world. The 104 MB demo gives you three levels from the final game to sample and you can get it by clicking here, although please note you may need to update your graphic drivers to the latest versions to get the best from it. Also available this week is a demo for Agon, an adventure game that is being released commercially on the internet in episodic fashion with the first episode being made available for purchase in the past week. With it likely to be many months until all the episodes are all available you are likely to get a massive amount of gameplay as each new part is unveiled and you can have a look at some of the first episode by downloading this 60 MB demo.
Game Patches
Free content is teh win! Starting off an extensive Patches section this week we have the 262 MB full Hidden & Dangerous Deluxe game which has been made freely available as an advertising gimmick for the upcoming Hidden & Dangerous 2 that is released later this month. Still retailing in the shops for a fiver you can download the full thing by clicking here, the WW2 based squad game putting you in control of a four-man SAS team as you carry out various covert ops missions with the mission pack "Fight for Freedom" included in this completely free package. Contrast this with the token offering for WarCraft 3 expansion pack Frozen Throne, another tiny bonus map released this week in the shape of "Typhoon", and I know which one I'll be downloading this week.
A load of recently released games get their first (or even second) bug-fix this week with the most prominent being Halo which has been updated to v1.02, the game being released today (Friday) in the UK so this file being a must-have for those of you who have decided to go for game that made the X-Box famous. Also getting a second patch is Tron 2.0, the 31 MB file taking it up to v1.030 and introducing better online server support, additional content and some fixes for those of you with ATI Radeon cards. Fellow FPS shooter Elite Force II has also been patched, our servers for this game should be updated in the next couple of days to v1.1 which comes in at just under 25 MB, this the final version of the beta patch we have been running on one of our Preview servers recently. Also new is a patch for WarHammer 40,000 based FPS game FireWarrior, you might have seen this one advertised on SKY ONE in the past few weeks and if you have picked up a copy you can get the 21 MB PCPatch by clicking here.
Another new game to get some fixes applied to it is squad based strategy game UFO: Aftermath, a title that many of you will compare to the X-COM series of games. The new version will take your game to v1.1a and fixes a number of minor issues, whilst if you are planning to purchase Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown when it comes out in a few weeks you might want to grab the v1.01 patch that has been released, storing the small update on your computer until the game drops through your door in a months time. At the other end of the release schedule if you happen to own a copy of Age of Mythology you will be pleased to know that another patch for it has been released, taking the game to v1.07 the small file will fix some crash issues, unit balance problems and includes some online tweaks.
Mods
Again a fairly quiet week on the mod front from what I can tell with the main update being for BattleField 1942 mod Forgotten Hope. This realism mod is aimed at tweaking various aspects of the original BattleField 1942 to make them more true to the real world with the addition of new vehicles and two entire new armies in the shape of the Italian and French forces, although rumours that there is a hidden "French" game-mode - where the winner is the person quickest to let the other team invade them - have yet to be proven true. The one thing I will say about this mod is that, whilst I'm all for mod making in the community, the fact that they released a 429 MB v0.5b which also required a 82.5 MB map pack, followed shortly by a 100 MB v0.5c and then a further v0.5d, does seem a little sloppy, but I guess these days 300 MB + mods and alpha versions of alpha releases are common place so it is something that gamers have to just accept if we want to find the odd gem that sticks around and really makes a name for itself.
Special Offers
Two hardware offers to bring you this week, starting off with the news that, following on from last week's Silver PS2 release and corresponding price drop of it and the Black PS2 to just £139.99, Nintendo have hit back to drop the price of their GameCube console to just £79.99. To celebrate this we are offering an assortment of bundles, personally I've never owned a console in my life but I'm now tempted to get one or the other as an early Christmas present
.You'll probably have seen the adverts already and as of this week it is finally here, of course I am talking about the Nokia N-Gage which is designed to act as Game Console, MP3 Player, Wireless Internet Browser and of course a Mobile Phone. Released a few months before Christmas the phonesole (as I like to call it) only has a limited number of games available at the moment but in the next few months more will be released, check out what is on offer by visiting our dedicated N-Gage section.
Regards,
Dave "BigFoot" Angus
GAME.NET Community Liaison
If you need any help or have any questions, we have a page set up to help you.
Please don't reply to this e-mail - we have all the support you need ready for you elsewhere.
http://www.game.net/
http://www.game.uk.com/
To Unsubscribe from this Community Newsletter simply go to this page, Logon and click the Unsubscribe button.