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Fully clickable version here - http://play.game.net/newsletters/22ndAugust.htm
GAME.NET News
Not a huge amount of service news to bring you this Friday with it being only a few days since the last Newsletter, a mention though for The Slug who is our new Head GAME Master for Vietcong. Over the next few weeks he will be organising some Subscriber Only games and administering the very popular preview server, if you play the game on our servers I'd recommend checking the "What's On" section and also visiting our Vietcong Forum.
Over the next week the final stages of our online qualifiers for the World Cyber Games UK Finals will be completed, in the Unreal Tournament 2003 competition we already have the four qualifiers with Stevo, Mortal1ty, MegaBeans and Quasar coming through the groups and knock-out stages to reach the final four, the tournament being played to completion this coming Sunday. Over in the Counter-Strike competition it is still all up for grabs heading into a very busy final three nights, Half-Life TV - a spectator proxy for Half-Life - will be available for all the matches next Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday with details given in #game.cs on QuakeNet / The GAME Chat Client.
What's On
Sunday 24th August 2003
Jedi Knight 2: Instagib @ 15:00
Operation Flashpoint @ 17:00
Counter-Strike @ 20:00
Monday 25th August 2003
Elite Force II @ 19:00
Half-Life: Team Fortress Classic @ 21:00
Tuesday 26th August 2003
Battlefield 1942 @ 20:30
Quake 3 Arena: Urban Terror @ 20:30
>>> New Event Vietcong @ 21:00<<< New Event
Wednesday 27th August 2003
Medal of Honor @ 19:00
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory @ 20:00
Battlefield 1942: Desert Combat @ 21:00
Thursday 28th August 2003
Medal of Honor: SpearHead @ 19:00
Half-Life: Day of Defeat @ 20:30
Quake 3 Arena: Capture The Flag @ 21:00
Half Life: Team Fortress Classic (TFC) @ 21:00
Friday 29th August 2003
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory @ 13:00
Files and Patches
Trailers
Despite it being just a few days since the last Newsletter there is still a bunch of new stuff for you to get your paws on, starting off with a trailer for the now cancelled Command & Conquer: Renegade 2. To many people the fact a sequel was in development for one of the most contrived FPS games in recent times was a bit of a surprise, the original game having a few fans but on the whole being a big mess (in my view anyway) and perhaps this being a lesson to the owners of the C&C brand that the game does at least have to be some kop for people to have an interest in it. You can download the trailer by clicking the game name, alternatively if you want to purchase a copy of the original then click here, at £9.99 I guess it will not exactly break the bank and you can always give it a go on the GAME.NET system.
There are plenty more games out there deserving of a sequel and one of the most eagerly anticipated it Deus Ex: Invisible War, set 20 years after the original game took place and looks set to build on the strong story and RPG elements that made the first such a success. Even though it isn't due out until next year the trailer looks mighty fine and at just 30 MB I would strongly recommend you give a look, the first few months of 2003 looking particularly strong for once-mocked developers Ion Storm with Thief 3 also due to be released, a small but unrevealing trailer for that game made public this week and available to download here.
Sequelsville continues to be the theme for a number of the other trailers released since Monday, some shaky-cam footage (get it here) of Unreal Tournament 2004 the next on offer and, whilst not being particular awe-inspiring, it does give an idea as to what to expect from the vehicles in the next version of the franchise. Another trailer that doesn't really hit the spot in my view is for RavenShield's expansion pack "Athena Sword", allegedly the game will be priced very cheaply and given that it looks like no more than a few extra missions it is just as well, although if you are really into the RavenShield thing then you might want to grab the small trailer here.
More impressive is the Middle Earth Online trailer, although again it is hard to draw much from what is on show but it certainly looks pretty and I'm sure that the Tolkein fan boys amongst you will want to grab it to have a peak at just how the Massively Multiplayer game will unfold. The trailer for WWI Flight / Combat Sim Wings of Honour can certainly not be accused of lacking in-game footage with it consisting solely of views from the cockpit, the game looks fairly pretty but seeing as it will live or die on the combat section its hard to make a call on it just yet, make up your own mind by downloading the 18 MB movie here. Another slightly mundane trailer features the weather effects of Greenlight: Airborne Operations 1939-45, the reason I'm giving this a mention though is that the game itself looks very promising, even if it is yet another WW2 based combat game. I suppose you cannot moan too much though as it can boast a modified version of the Tribes 2 engine, whilst also having some links to popular Half-Life mod Day of Defeat.
Playable Demos
A few demos for you this week, some sizeable enough to keep your cable / DSL busy for a fair chunk of time. The first is for C&C Generals, released to tie in with the upcoming Zero Hour expansion pack the 400 MB demo (get it here) should give you a decent taste of what is a pretty decent RTS game in my view, if perhaps well in need of an expansion pack as I did find the original game a little short. Another demo to mention is for combat-based RTS game The Entente which is set during the World War I era and at 274 MB (get it here) the demo should give you every chance to make up your mind as to whether it makes the most of being arguably the first RTS game to be based around that conflict.
Moving it up a notch in terms of the closeness of the action is a demo for 3rd person action / strategy game Freedom Fighters, at 75 MB it gives you a chance to play the Post Office level from the Russia takes over America game with up to seven weapons and three recruits to aid you in your cause. Strategy also plays a big part in Silent Storm, this turn-based RPG game gives you a variety of skills to learn and a massive 75 weapons to use, get a taste for it yourself with this 200 MB demo. Fast forward a few hundred years for the final demo this week, whilst not being playable the 40 MB demo (get it here) for X2: The Threat does give us a decent look at the space-based combat / empire building / story driven game.
Game Patches
A variety of games get a bit of a facelift this week, although the tiny performance fix for FPS game Devastation doesn't really qualify as a patch but might help to speed your game along a little bit. I recently played the game to completion after it had been sitting on my shelf for a little bit and thought it was fairly good, if you still have it installed and do play it now and again then you can grab the fix here. By contrast Restaurant Empire gets a more substantial overhaul with its 18 MB v1.21 patch adding some new features and fine-tuning the gameplay, whilst the massive Battlecruiser Millennium gets a similar sized update taking it v1.09.01.
If you've pre-ordered turn-based fantasy game Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic (released next Friday) then you will probably have mixed feelings regarding the news that a small patch has been released, you can grab the file here and be prepared for when the CD drops through your door on the Friday morning. The slightly more established fantasy game Neverwinter Nights has seen a new patch released, the same being true of the game's Shadows of Undrentide Expansion pack, you can get the original game patch here and the expansion version here with both being miniscule in size.
Mods
Kicking off this section is some good news for those of you who still play Elite Force 2, the 10 MB Development Kit (get it here) for the game being released which will hopefully lead to some much needed mods following in due course. Having spoken to some fans of the original game it seems that quite a bit of work is needed to keep the interest level up in the sequel, especially with the forthcoming release of Jedi Knight 3 likely to put a further dent in the EF2 scene.
As usual it is Half-Life mods which makes up the rest of the news in this section with a new version of the curious Rat-simulator "Rats-Mod" seeing the light of day, Beta2.0 weighing in at 41 MB and perhaps worth a look if only for the novelty value. Also available is a 10 MB patch for WH40K based mod "Rival Species", this taking you from v1.0 to v1.0.1.0.
Special Offers
Those tight fisted people at the shop site have been keeping the bargains under wraps this week but have asked me to plug once more the Two Towers DVD which, if ordered through us by using this link, will come with a nice paperback detailing the making of the trilogy.
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
Not a huge amount of service news to bring you this Friday with it being only a few days since the last Newsletter, a mention though for The Slug who is our new Head GAME Master for Vietcong. Over the next few weeks he will be organising some Subscriber Only games and administering the very popular preview server, if you play the game on our servers I'd recommend checking the "What's On" section and also visiting our Vietcong Forum.
Over the next week the final stages of our online qualifiers for the World Cyber Games UK Finals will be completed, in the Unreal Tournament 2003 competition we already have the four qualifiers with Stevo, Mortal1ty, MegaBeans and Quasar coming through the groups and knock-out stages to reach the final four, the tournament being played to completion this coming Sunday. Over in the Counter-Strike competition it is still all up for grabs heading into a very busy final three nights, Half-Life TV - a spectator proxy for Half-Life - will be available for all the matches next Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday with details given in #game.cs on QuakeNet / The GAME Chat Client.
What's On
Sunday 24th August 2003
Jedi Knight 2: Instagib @ 15:00
Operation Flashpoint @ 17:00
Counter-Strike @ 20:00
Monday 25th August 2003
Elite Force II @ 19:00
Half-Life: Team Fortress Classic @ 21:00
Tuesday 26th August 2003
Battlefield 1942 @ 20:30
Quake 3 Arena: Urban Terror @ 20:30
>>> New Event Vietcong @ 21:00<<< New Event
Wednesday 27th August 2003
Medal of Honor @ 19:00
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory @ 20:00
Battlefield 1942: Desert Combat @ 21:00
Thursday 28th August 2003
Medal of Honor: SpearHead @ 19:00
Half-Life: Day of Defeat @ 20:30
Quake 3 Arena: Capture The Flag @ 21:00
Half Life: Team Fortress Classic (TFC) @ 21:00
Friday 29th August 2003
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory @ 13:00
Files and Patches
Trailers
Despite it being just a few days since the last Newsletter there is still a bunch of new stuff for you to get your paws on, starting off with a trailer for the now cancelled Command & Conquer: Renegade 2. To many people the fact a sequel was in development for one of the most contrived FPS games in recent times was a bit of a surprise, the original game having a few fans but on the whole being a big mess (in my view anyway) and perhaps this being a lesson to the owners of the C&C brand that the game does at least have to be some kop for people to have an interest in it. You can download the trailer by clicking the game name, alternatively if you want to purchase a copy of the original then click here, at £9.99 I guess it will not exactly break the bank and you can always give it a go on the GAME.NET system.
There are plenty more games out there deserving of a sequel and one of the most eagerly anticipated it Deus Ex: Invisible War, set 20 years after the original game took place and looks set to build on the strong story and RPG elements that made the first such a success. Even though it isn't due out until next year the trailer looks mighty fine and at just 30 MB I would strongly recommend you give a look, the first few months of 2003 looking particularly strong for once-mocked developers Ion Storm with Thief 3 also due to be released, a small but unrevealing trailer for that game made public this week and available to download here.
Sequelsville continues to be the theme for a number of the other trailers released since Monday, some shaky-cam footage (get it here) of Unreal Tournament 2004 the next on offer and, whilst not being particular awe-inspiring, it does give an idea as to what to expect from the vehicles in the next version of the franchise. Another trailer that doesn't really hit the spot in my view is for RavenShield's expansion pack "Athena Sword", allegedly the game will be priced very cheaply and given that it looks like no more than a few extra missions it is just as well, although if you are really into the RavenShield thing then you might want to grab the small trailer here.
More impressive is the Middle Earth Online trailer, although again it is hard to draw much from what is on show but it certainly looks pretty and I'm sure that the Tolkein fan boys amongst you will want to grab it to have a peak at just how the Massively Multiplayer game will unfold. The trailer for WWI Flight / Combat Sim Wings of Honour can certainly not be accused of lacking in-game footage with it consisting solely of views from the cockpit, the game looks fairly pretty but seeing as it will live or die on the combat section its hard to make a call on it just yet, make up your own mind by downloading the 18 MB movie here. Another slightly mundane trailer features the weather effects of Greenlight: Airborne Operations 1939-45, the reason I'm giving this a mention though is that the game itself looks very promising, even if it is yet another WW2 based combat game. I suppose you cannot moan too much though as it can boast a modified version of the Tribes 2 engine, whilst also having some links to popular Half-Life mod Day of Defeat.
Playable Demos
A few demos for you this week, some sizeable enough to keep your cable / DSL busy for a fair chunk of time. The first is for C&C Generals, released to tie in with the upcoming Zero Hour expansion pack the 400 MB demo (get it here) should give you a decent taste of what is a pretty decent RTS game in my view, if perhaps well in need of an expansion pack as I did find the original game a little short. Another demo to mention is for combat-based RTS game The Entente which is set during the World War I era and at 274 MB (get it here) the demo should give you every chance to make up your mind as to whether it makes the most of being arguably the first RTS game to be based around that conflict.
Moving it up a notch in terms of the closeness of the action is a demo for 3rd person action / strategy game Freedom Fighters, at 75 MB it gives you a chance to play the Post Office level from the Russia takes over America game with up to seven weapons and three recruits to aid you in your cause. Strategy also plays a big part in Silent Storm, this turn-based RPG game gives you a variety of skills to learn and a massive 75 weapons to use, get a taste for it yourself with this 200 MB demo. Fast forward a few hundred years for the final demo this week, whilst not being playable the 40 MB demo (get it here) for X2: The Threat does give us a decent look at the space-based combat / empire building / story driven game.
Game Patches
A variety of games get a bit of a facelift this week, although the tiny performance fix for FPS game Devastation doesn't really qualify as a patch but might help to speed your game along a little bit. I recently played the game to completion after it had been sitting on my shelf for a little bit and thought it was fairly good, if you still have it installed and do play it now and again then you can grab the fix here. By contrast Restaurant Empire gets a more substantial overhaul with its 18 MB v1.21 patch adding some new features and fine-tuning the gameplay, whilst the massive Battlecruiser Millennium gets a similar sized update taking it v1.09.01.
If you've pre-ordered turn-based fantasy game Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic (released next Friday) then you will probably have mixed feelings regarding the news that a small patch has been released, you can grab the file here and be prepared for when the CD drops through your door on the Friday morning. The slightly more established fantasy game Neverwinter Nights has seen a new patch released, the same being true of the game's Shadows of Undrentide Expansion pack, you can get the original game patch here and the expansion version here with both being miniscule in size.
Mods
Kicking off this section is some good news for those of you who still play Elite Force 2, the 10 MB Development Kit (get it here) for the game being released which will hopefully lead to some much needed mods following in due course. Having spoken to some fans of the original game it seems that quite a bit of work is needed to keep the interest level up in the sequel, especially with the forthcoming release of Jedi Knight 3 likely to put a further dent in the EF2 scene.
As usual it is Half-Life mods which makes up the rest of the news in this section with a new version of the curious Rat-simulator "Rats-Mod" seeing the light of day, Beta2.0 weighing in at 41 MB and perhaps worth a look if only for the novelty value. Also available is a 10 MB patch for WH40K based mod "Rival Species", this taking you from v1.0 to v1.0.1.0.
Special Offers
Those tight fisted people at the shop site have been keeping the bargains under wraps this week but have asked me to plug once more the Two Towers DVD which, if ordered through us by using this link, will come with a nice paperback detailing the making of the trilogy.
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.