🚀 go-pugleaf

On 6 Dec 2005 06:56:36 -0800, "Craig M" <ncinftec_stud7@hotmail.co.uk>
:

>When most people think of first-person shooters, id Software
>immediately springs to mind. The small Texas-based company has been
>involved in almost all of the first-person shooters that are considered
>classics. Quake spawned a rabid fan base on the Internet that still
>watches id's every move. So when id revealed that the next game in the
>series, Quake III Arena, would be specifically designed as a
>multiplayer game, fans weren't quite sure what to think. But id's
>purpose became increasingly clear when it released a succession of
>Quake III Arena technology demos for public scrutiny. The resulting
>game is not only worthy of its lineage, but it may very well be the
>best Quake yet.
>
>While Quake III Arena's focus may be its multiplayer deathmatch
>component, it does have a single-player mode. When playing alone, you
>can go up against artificial intelligence-controlled bots. The bots do
>their best to act like human players, and on the higher difficulty
>settings, they put up an excellent fight. Each bot has different
>characteristics that govern the way it fights. The portly biker chick
>Lucy tends to duck a lot. Xaero, a Zen master and the final boss of the
>single-player mode, is also master of the railgun. The single-player
>mode is a lot like the kind in an arcade-fighting game, such as Mortal
>Kombat. You'll move through several different competitive tiers, each
>with different arenas and bots. At the end of each tier is a one-on-one
>showdown; these fights take place in smaller, tournament-style arenas.
>The bots are downright chatty - when you get a group of them together,
>they'll hold small conversations with each other, which are displayed
>in text onscreen. In team games, you can order bots around, or even let
>a bot take control of your team and tell you what to do.
>
>The single-player mode is fun up to a point, but the multiplayer mode
>is where the real action is. Quake III Arena moves very quickly, and it
>has a real pick-up-and-play design to it. The game feels slightly
>simplified as compared to other recent shooters, but for the most part
>its simplicity is a good thing. The game has been stripped down to its
>first-person shooter essence, and any extraneous weapons or power-ups
>that might have gotten in the way of great deathmatch gameplay have
>been omitted. However, a few things stick out as having been overly
>simplified. For instance, as in most shooters, there is an auto-switch
>weapons option that lets you automatically switch to the new weapon
>when you pick it up. It's a convenient feature because it lets you
>rearm yourself with a stronger weapon almost immediately instead of
>having to press a key or spin the mouse wheel to select it. But when
>you're in the middle of a close-quarters shotgun fight, you really
>don't want to accidentally switch to the rocket launcher or railgun if
>you happen to walk over one. In that case, you can disable the
>auto-switch feature. Similarly, if you're running away from someone
>who's firing BFG blasts at you, the time it takes to manually select
>your new rocket launcher could be the difference between life and
>death. A weapon-priority scale that lets you decide specifically which
>weapons you'd like to switch to automatically, as in Unreal Tournament
>or QuakeWorld, would have easily solved the problem.
>
>The level design and texture design throughout Quake III Arena are
>quite good, even if the levels feel a little generic. None of the
>levels ever feel like real-world places; they are one futuristic castle
>setting after another, occasionally broken up by a level composed of a
>bunch of floating platforms in the middle of a black void. That said,
>the textures, especially the animated ones, are really amazing, and the
>game engine allows for curved surfaces, which deliver a more plausible
>feel to the architecture. The levels have obviously been designed with
>gameplay in mind - most of them are great fun to play in. However, the
>game seems to focus on levels that are great for only six to ten
>players. With more than ten players, most of the maps seem really
>crowded. Aside from standard deathmatch, you can also play team
>deathmatch, a one-on-one tournament mode that acts like a scaled-down
>version of the popular rocket-arena mod that appeared in Quake and
>Quake II, and capture the flag. Unfortunately, capture the flag seems
>almost like an afterthought. There are only four CTF levels included in
>the game, and all of them seem suited to smaller teams.
>
>Like the great-looking textures, the game's 3D models and special
>effects are very impressive. The character models and skins look
>terrific, and the animation really brings a lot of personality to the
>different characters. The various models are highly varied, and range
>from giant hopping-eye creatures to skeletons. Models based on the
>characters from Doom, Quake, and Quake II are also available. Curved
>surfaces help improve the quality of the level design, but other
>effects like fog and great colored lighting add even more atmosphere to
>some of the game's levels. The weapon models also look good for the
>most part, and they're easily identifiable in your enemies' hands.
>Unfortunately, the sound in Quake III Arena is inconsistent. All of the
>weapon fire is outstanding. The sound of rockets whizzing by your head
>as you dodge from side to side is especially impressive. The different
>character voices (each model has its own set of sounds) are pretty
>good, though you may become annoyed with Orbb the eyeball's screeching
>noises - all the more reason to kill him quickly. But the real problem
>with the audio is the announcer, who says things like "five minutes
>remaining" or "impressive" when applicable. Id obviously tried to
>duplicate the sound and style of the announcer's menacing voice from
>the Mortal Kombat games. But instead of hiring an appropriate voice
>actor, id simply took a typical voice (specifically that of level
>designer Christian Antkow) and pitched it down a few octaves to make it
>sound sinister. Instead, it just comes off as amateurish. Given the
>frequency with which the announcer speaks during the game, you'd think
>that the voice would have received a bit more attention.
>
>Regardless of how it sounds, after playing Quake III Arena, it's easy
>to see that moving toward a multiplayer-centered game was an excellent
>idea. With cable modems and DSL connections slowly gaining mainstream
>acceptance, the bandwidth is there for a lot of people to finally enjoy
>a good deathmatch game at a high speed. Fortunately, provided you find
>a good server, the game also manages to be playable over a 56K modem
>connection.
>
>All things considered, it isn't a stretch to call Quake III Arena an
>outstanding game. But whether it's superior to its rival Unreal
>Tournament is less certain. If you're interested in sophisticated
>team-play modes like those featured in Unreal Tournament, then Quake
>III Arena comes up short. However, Quake III Arena provides the
>ultimate deathmatch experience. If deathmatch is the particular style
>of play you're interested in, then Arena is your game.


Let's do the time warp agaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin....

"muktheknieŽ" <mukhp@NOSPAMhotmail.com> wrote in message 
news:4ubbp15133gbhdphibvp797cleop6mfl5i@4ax.com...
> On 6 Dec 2005 06:56:36 -0800, "Craig M" <ncinftec_stud7@hotmail.co.uk>
> :
>
>>When most people think of first-person shooters, id Software
>>immediately springs to mind. The small Texas-based company has been
>>involved in almost all of the first-person shooters that are considered
>>classics. Quake spawned a rabid fan base on the Internet that still
>>watches id's every move. So when id revealed that the next game in the
>>series, Quake III Arena, would be specifically designed as a
>>multiplayer game, fans weren't quite sure what to think. But id's
>>purpose became increasingly clear when it released a succession of
>>Quake III Arena technology demos for public scrutiny. The resulting
>>game is not only worthy of its lineage, but it may very well be the
>>best Quake yet.
>>
>>While Quake III Arena's focus may be its multiplayer deathmatch
>>component, it does have a single-player mode. When playing alone, you
>>can go up against artificial intelligence-controlled bots. The bots do
>>their best to act like human players, and on the higher difficulty
>>settings, they put up an excellent fight. Each bot has different
>>characteristics that govern the way it fights. The portly biker chick
>>Lucy tends to duck a lot. Xaero, a Zen master and the final boss of the
>>single-player mode, is also master of the railgun. The single-player
>>mode is a lot like the kind in an arcade-fighting game, such as Mortal
>>Kombat. You'll move through several different competitive tiers, each
>>with different arenas and bots. At the end of each tier is a one-on-one
>>showdown; these fights take place in smaller, tournament-style arenas.
>>The bots are downright chatty - when you get a group of them together,
>>they'll hold small conversations with each other, which are displayed
>>in text onscreen. In team games, you can order bots around, or even let
>>a bot take control of your team and tell you what to do.
>>
>>The single-player mode is fun up to a point, but the multiplayer mode
>>is where the real action is. Quake III Arena moves very quickly, and it
>>has a real pick-up-and-play design to it. The game feels slightly
>>simplified as compared to other recent shooters, but for the most part
>>its simplicity is a good thing. The game has been stripped down to its
>>first-person shooter essence, and any extraneous weapons or power-ups
>>that might have gotten in the way of great deathmatch gameplay have
>>been omitted. However, a few things stick out as having been overly
>>simplified. For instance, as in most shooters, there is an auto-switch
>>weapons option that lets you automatically switch to the new weapon
>>when you pick it up. It's a convenient feature because it lets you
>>rearm yourself with a stronger weapon almost immediately instead of
>>having to press a key or spin the mouse wheel to select it. But when
>>you're in the middle of a close-quarters shotgun fight, you really
>>don't want to accidentally switch to the rocket launcher or railgun if
>>you happen to walk over one. In that case, you can disable the
>>auto-switch feature. Similarly, if you're running away from someone
>>who's firing BFG blasts at you, the time it takes to manually select
>>your new rocket launcher could be the difference between life and
>>death. A weapon-priority scale that lets you decide specifically which
>>weapons you'd like to switch to automatically, as in Unreal Tournament
>>or QuakeWorld, would have easily solved the problem.
>>
>>The level design and texture design throughout Quake III Arena are
>>quite good, even if the levels feel a little generic. None of the
>>levels ever feel like real-world places; they are one futuristic castle
>>setting after another, occasionally broken up by a level composed of a
>>bunch of floating platforms in the middle of a black void. That said,
>>the textures, especially the animated ones, are really amazing, and the
>>game engine allows for curved surfaces, which deliver a more plausible
>>feel to the architecture. The levels have obviously been designed with
>>gameplay in mind - most of them are great fun to play in. However, the
>>game seems to focus on levels that are great for only six to ten
>>players. With more than ten players, most of the maps seem really
>>crowded. Aside from standard deathmatch, you can also play team
>>deathmatch, a one-on-one tournament mode that acts like a scaled-down
>>version of the popular rocket-arena mod that appeared in Quake and
>>Quake II, and capture the flag. Unfortunately, capture the flag seems
>>almost like an afterthought. There are only four CTF levels included in
>>the game, and all of them seem suited to smaller teams.
>>
>>Like the great-looking textures, the game's 3D models and special
>>effects are very impressive. The character models and skins look
>>terrific, and the animation really brings a lot of personality to the
>>different characters. The various models are highly varied, and range
>>from giant hopping-eye creatures to skeletons. Models based on the
>>characters from Doom, Quake, and Quake II are also available. Curved
>>surfaces help improve the quality of the level design, but other
>>effects like fog and great colored lighting add even more atmosphere to
>>some of the game's levels. The weapon models also look good for the
>>most part, and they're easily identifiable in your enemies' hands.
>>Unfortunately, the sound in Quake III Arena is inconsistent. All of the
>>weapon fire is outstanding. The sound of rockets whizzing by your head
>>as you dodge from side to side is especially impressive. The different
>>character voices (each model has its own set of sounds) are pretty
>>good, though you may become annoyed with Orbb the eyeball's screeching
>>noises - all the more reason to kill him quickly. But the real problem
>>with the audio is the announcer, who says things like "five minutes
>>remaining" or "impressive" when applicable. Id obviously tried to
>>duplicate the sound and style of the announcer's menacing voice from
>>the Mortal Kombat games. But instead of hiring an appropriate voice
>>actor, id simply took a typical voice (specifically that of level
>>designer Christian Antkow) and pitched it down a few octaves to make it
>>sound sinister. Instead, it just comes off as amateurish. Given the
>>frequency with which the announcer speaks during the game, you'd think
>>that the voice would have received a bit more attention.
>>
>>Regardless of how it sounds, after playing Quake III Arena, it's easy
>>to see that moving toward a multiplayer-centered game was an excellent
>>idea. With cable modems and DSL connections slowly gaining mainstream
>>acceptance, the bandwidth is there for a lot of people to finally enjoy
>>a good deathmatch game at a high speed. Fortunately, provided you find
>>a good server, the game also manages to be playable over a 56K modem
>>connection.
>>
>>All things considered, it isn't a stretch to call Quake III Arena an
>>outstanding game. But whether it's superior to its rival Unreal
>>Tournament is less certain. If you're interested in sophisticated
>>team-play modes like those featured in Unreal Tournament, then Quake
>>III Arena comes up short. However, Quake III Arena provides the
>>ultimate deathmatch experience. If deathmatch is the particular style
>>of play you're interested in, then Arena is your game.
>
>
> Let's do the time warp agaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin....

Hey Craig, this game came out in 1999. It's almost 2006. Wasn't sure you 
knew those things.

I think I'll write up a review of monopoly. I'll post it here when I'm done. 

OscartheGrouch wrote:

> "muktheknie®" <mukhp@NOSPAMhotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:4ubbp15133gbhdphibvp797cleop6mfl5i@4ax.com...
>> On 6 Dec 2005 06:56:36 -0800, "Craig M" <ncinftec_stud7@hotmail.co.uk>

[big snip]

>> Let's do the time warp agaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin....
> 
> Hey Craig, this game came out in 1999. It's almost 2006. Wasn't sure you
> knew those things.
> 
> I think I'll write up a review of monopoly. I'll post it here when I'm
> done.

Guess what? Snipping out unneeded parts of the quote of a post you reply to
was invented much earlier than Q3A. Probably even earlier than Monopoly.

Snipping puts a little extra effort in the side of a _single_ person (the
poster), so that _lots_ of people (the readers) don't get annoyed by having
to scroll down hundreds of lines only to find a humorous one-liner.

-- 
Iñaki Silanes / Chemistry Faculty UPV-EHU Donostia
http://www.sc.ehu.es/powgep99/dcytp/teoricos/staff/inaki/inaki.htm
On Intelligent Design: http://www.venganza.org/

Craig M wrote:

> When most people think of first-person shooters, id Software
> immediately springs to mind.

Congratulations, you're only six years late.

-- 
Erik Max Francis && max@alcyone.com && http://www.alcyone.com/max/
San Jose, CA, USA && 37 20 N 121 53 W && AIM erikmaxfrancis
   Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor.
   -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ińaki Silanes wrote:

> Guess what? Snipping out unneeded parts of the quote of a post you reply to
> was invented much earlier than Q3A. Probably even earlier than Monopoly.
> 
> Snipping puts a little extra effort in the side of a _single_ person (the
> poster), so that _lots_ of people (the readers) don't get annoyed by having
> to scroll down hundreds of lines only to find a humorous one-liner.
> 

Maybe you could find a less Krappy newsreader that allows you to skip quoted 
text?

>> Snipping puts a little extra effort in the side of a _single_ person (the
>> poster), so that _lots_ of people (the readers) don't get annoyed by 
>> having
>> to scroll down hundreds of lines only to find a humorous one-liner.

Yes, but what a humorous one-liner it was, eh?

sittingduck wrote:

> Iñaki Silanes wrote:
> 
>> Guess what? Snipping out unneeded parts of the quote of a post you reply
>> to was invented much earlier than Q3A. Probably even earlier than
>> Monopoly.
>> 
>> Snipping puts a little extra effort in the side of a _single_ person (the
>> poster), so that _lots_ of people (the readers) don't get annoyed by
>> having to scroll down hundreds of lines only to find a humorous
>> one-liner.
>> 
> 
> Maybe you could find a less Krappy newsreader that allows you to skip
> quoted text?

Excuse me, but I am a poor Linux user, and my lame newsreader can either
show the whole quotes, or hide them totally, but is utterly incapable of
inferring what parts of the quotes are relevant and what parts are not. It
takes a Windows mega-newsreader for that (or a poster who trims the quotes,
using his/her intelligence).

If the reader is going to be forced to skip whole quotes... why does the
poster send them, anyway? The quotes should provide a context to the posted
replies, not clues about the laziness of the poster.

-- 
Iñaki Silanes / Chemistry Faculty UPV-EHU Donostia
http://www.sc.ehu.es/powgep99/dcytp/teoricos/staff/inaki/inaki.htm
On Intelligent Design: http://www.venganza.org/

Ińaki Silanes wrote:

> Excuse me, but I am a poor Linux user, and my lame newsreader can either
> show the whole quotes, or hide them totally, but is utterly incapable of
> inferring what parts of the quotes are relevant and what parts are not. It
> takes a Windows mega-newsreader for that (or a poster who trims the quotes,
> using his/her intelligence).

With my newsreader, a keypress skips to the un-quoted text. A glance at it 
tells me whether it is worth reading. I'm sorry you are unable to do this, 
and feel compelled to read everything that is quoted first. Life's a bitch 
sometimes, aint it?

On 12/7/2005 9:56 AM sittingduck brightened our day with:

>Iñaki Silanes wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Excuse me, but I am a poor Linux user, and my lame newsreader can either
>>show the whole quotes, or hide them totally, but is utterly incapable of
>>inferring what parts of the quotes are relevant and what parts are not. It
>>takes a Windows mega-newsreader for that (or a poster who trims the quotes,
>>using his/her intelligence).
>>    
>>
>
>With my newsreader, a keypress skips to the un-quoted text. A glance at it 
>tells me whether it is worth reading. I'm sorry you are unable to do this, 
>and feel compelled to read everything that is quoted first. Life's a bitch 
>sometimes, aint it?
>  
>
Thunderbird has an extension called QuoteCollapse which puts a little 
[+] sign that allows you to expand the quoted text if you want to see 
it, otherwise only the first line is visible. 
Example: http://www.inglostadt.com/images/collapse.jpg
Works in Linux too.

-- 
"I did not have misleading relations with those facts"

					George W

Steve ¤»Inglo«¤
www.inglostadt.com

Inglo wrote:

> Thunderbird has an extension called QuoteCollapse which puts a little 
> [+] sign that allows you to expand the quoted text if you want to see 
> it, otherwise only the first line is visible. 
> Example: http://www.inglostadt.com/images/collapse.jpg
> Works in Linux too.

Don't get me wrong, I don't advocate sloppy posting... I too, wish people 
were not lazy, inconsiderate asswipes that have no clue whatsoever about 
Usenet etiquette.
Snipping quoted text, posting UNDER the quoted text, and staying on topic are 
generally ignored. 

sittingduck wrote:

> Inglo wrote:
> 
>> Thunderbird has an extension called QuoteCollapse which puts a little
>> [+] sign that allows you to expand the quoted text if you want to see
>> it, otherwise only the first line is visible.
>> Example: http://www.inglostadt.com/images/collapse.jpg
>> Works in Linux too.
> 
> Don't get me wrong, I don't advocate sloppy posting... I too, wish people
> were not lazy, inconsiderate asswipes that have no clue whatsoever about
> Usenet etiquette.
> Snipping quoted text, posting UNDER the quoted text, and staying on topic
> are generally ignored.

Hey! We all merrily agree, then? :^)

I was just being sarcastic with my previous post... Good to see reasonable
people around, even using The Dark Side of the Software, sittingduck :^b

And thanks for the tip, Inglo. I use KNode, and probably there's also a
shortcut somewhere to do the same. And if there isn't, I'll try some other
newsreader... such is the choice and freedom of OSS.

-- 
Iñaki Silanes / Chemistry Faculty UPV-EHU Donostia
http://www.sc.ehu.es/powgep99/dcytp/teoricos/staff/inaki/inaki.htm
On Intelligent Design: http://www.venganza.org/

Inglo wrote:
> On 12/7/2005 9:56 AM sittingduck brightened our day with:


Ouch... Linux still didn't fix fonts.

:-O


But MAC for PC is the nail on M$ coffin and maybe Linux as well.

:)

Mr Bean wrote:

> But MAC for PC is the nail on M$ coffin and maybe Linux as well.

HUH? pinch yourself, you must be dreaming.... <G>

"Ińaki Silanes" <isilanes@bluebottle.com> wrote in message
news:dn4rh9$2ms$1@localhost.localdomain...
[snip]
> Guess what? Snipping out unneeded parts of the quote of a post you reply to
> was invented much earlier than Q3A. Probably even earlier than Monopoly.
>
> Snipping puts a little extra effort in the side of a _single_ person (the
> poster), so that _lots_ of people (the readers) don't get annoyed by having
> to scroll down hundreds of lines only to find a humorous one-liner.

I snipped so much, I circumsized myself.