LINUXGAMES

For those john paul jonesing for a naval warfare simulation, here’s some possible good news fromthe current maintainer of Harpoon III (which was originallyreleased for the Macintosh many moons ago):

Yup, there is a Linux version in the works…it hasn’t been publiclyannounced yet, but someone is currently working on a Linux port(under NDA currently and about to sign a Licensing Contract withAGSI). It’s at a _very_ _early_ stage (last I talked with him, hewas still working on getting all the names to lower case, sinceUnix/Linux is case sensitive, but MacOS and DOS/Win32 are not).

Matrox has released versions 1.3.3 and 1.4.3 of their Linux driver(1.3.3 is for XFree86 4.0.x, while1.4.3 is for 4.1.x). Changes include a multi-texturing fix forDescent 3 andTribes 2(README). Thanksto Francesco Lisi for the heads up.

Matrox 1.3.3 / 1.4.3 Linux Driver Download:
http://www.matrox.com/mga/support/drivers/files/linux_09.cfm

Loki sent in word that the retail release ofRed Hat 7.2 comes bundled with a Loki Demo disk,so be on the lookout for it if you’re buying the new RH distro. You can alsodownload the demos online with Loki’sDemo Launcher.

The NVIDIA news sitenV News let us know thatthey’ve created a newforum for Linux users(at the request of NVIDIA no less), so if you need technical support you can head there for help.

NewsForge posted areview this month of theBelkin4-Port Cable/DSL Gateway Router.

They also have up a review ofthe AMD Athlon XP 1800+.

Moreover, there’s areview of theDuron 1.1GHz processor.

Patrick Mullen of the Duke of URL let us know thatthey’ve posted their thirteenth Linux Buyer’s Guide,which provides Linux system profiles at various budget levels, as well as an overview of recent hardware developments. Moreover,this edition looks at Linux-compatible peripheral devices.

Rick Overman of GarageGames sent in the following:

EUGENE, OREGON – October 16, 2001- GarageGames, a pioneering on-line gamepublisher and technology provider, announced today the availability ofdirect Concurrent Versions System (CVS) access to the Torque Game Engine forregistered developers. “Developers now have immediate access to source codeenhancements and updates”, says Rick Overman, Director of Technology,”…just one more tool we are providing to help Indies make great games.”.The Torque Game Engine is the technology powering the award winningmultiplayer gameTRIBES 2 published by Sierra On-Line. The source code forthe Torque Game Engine is available exclusively atGarageGames.com.

Version 0.4.2 of nvclock was released (thanksGeoff Simmons); changes:

• Nomenclature change for GeForce3 Ti 200 and 500
• Add frequency limitations for GF2 Ultra and GF3 for stability
• Minor bug fixes

nvclock 0.4.2 Source:
ftp://ftp.evil3d.net/pub/Evil3D/nvclock/nvclock0.4.2.tar.gz

zakk sent in word that he has a fixed servers.dat file forHeavy Gear 2 players, which contains workingservers for the mecha-combat sim. You can download the file from:

http://www.3ddownloads.com/?file_id=153006

Version 0.1.0 of Project Twilight, a Quake 1 sourcecode modification, was released lastmonth. Features:

• Colored lighting
• Support for playing from read-only filesystems
• Fullbrights
• Model interpolation
• Skyboxes
• Large pile of bugfixes

Project Twilight 0.1.0 Source:
http://twilight.sourceforge.net/releases/download.php/twilight-0.1.0.tar.gz

Dolo sent in the following:

Ever wanted a site that has slashdot.org features for gamers where you canchat about whatever, not just read line after line of boring news oruber-geekly advanced crapola about nothing?

Dteam has a new PHP site that is still in beta and expected to have somebugs, but we want your help to try and hammer ‘em out.

Come sign up and get some KARMA!!!! :)

The site can be found at http://www.planetquake.com/dteam/

Ruediger Arp wrote in to announce the launch ofYaLGS!, which offers links to Linux gaming resources andthe games themselves.

Gameadmins.com has aServer Setup Guide for admins ofQ3A Threewave CTF servers.

On a similar note, there’s a 3wave league that the Cyberathlete Amateur Leaguesetup; you can sign-up here.

Version 1.9 of Art of War, a RTSQuake 3: Arena mod. The manual is availableonline here(screenshots).This version requires the newThreewave maps; there’s also a new movie (DiVX ;-) format)available demonstrating gameplay.

Art of War 1.9 Download:
http://www.planetquake.com/artofwar/downloads.html

Kalo of the Q3A modProball sent in word that they’vereleased a map pack which contains eleven new levels, which is available fromFilePlanet.

Version 0.6.0 of R-aTTaCk has been releasedby Rodrigo Frederic. R-aTTaCk is a Tetris Attack! clone for Linux.(Screenshots)

R-aTTaCk 0.6.0 Source:
http://r-attack.tuxfamily.org/r-attack_0.6.0.tar.bz2

Version 0.90r001 ofCrystal Space, the open source 3D engine, has been released:

This is version 0.90 and it isa MAJOR step since the last official release (0.18). This releaseis actually in preparation for the long-expected 1.0 release.One of the most important goals we had to reach in order to beable to release 1.0 is API stability. Programming a game withCrystal Space was difficult because CS was a moving target. The0.90 release will try to end this race by stabilizing the API.Between 0.90 and 1.0 we will most likely have to do small APIchanges for things we forgot but this should now have minimaleffect on applications using CS.

The absolutely massive changelog can be found here.

Crystal Space 0.90r001 Download:
http://crystal.linuxgames.com/download.html

Heavy Cat Multimedia sent in the following announcement concerningtheir new multi-platform game LadyStar:

Featuring new and original characters, quality 3D graphics and anepic storyline based on the popular “mahou shoujo” or magical girlgenre of Japanese animation, or anime, LadyStar(tm) promises toprovide adventure game fans with many hours of enjoyable andunique gameplay.

Ladystar(tm) tells the story of Jessica Hoshi, a friendly, optimistic andslightly scatter-brained 14-year old girl who is just starting high school.She immediately makes many new friends after joining the school band, butalso notices strange and mysterious events beginning to take place aroundher home and school.

As the game progresses, Jessica and her friends discover hidden treasuresand fantastic magical powers. Eventually the seven girls become powerfulwarriors who must travel to an enchanted realm where they will battlepowerful enemies as they try to solve the ancient legend of the LadyStar.

The new iStory(tm) game engine features an easy point-and-click interface,an inventory system, and allows games to be played on any PC platform witha standard web browser, such as Mozilla, Internet Explorer 5 or later,or Netscape version 6 or later.

LadyStar(tm) incorporates an exciting and bold array of unconventionaldevelopment and marketing ideas. Consisting of a planned52 episodes organized into five volumes, LadyStar(tm) is beinggradually released as shareware over the course of the next year, withthe first volume of 10 episodes available free, and the remaining fourvolumes included with registration. Two episodes, “The New Girl” and”Little Pictures Everywhere” are already available for download atwww.ladystar.net

Version 0.2.1 of Crimson Fields, a tactical wargame, has been released.Changes include a serious map loading bugfix.

Crimson Fields 0.2.1 Source:
http://www.lanipage.de/jens/crimson/crimson-0.2.1.tar.gz

Red Omen wrote in to point outFake64, a Nintendo64 emulator for Linux. It’s still in the early stagesof development, but the version 0.0.2 source is available fromhere.