Recently Found

Well. 3D Realms was on the final haul last year to release the game using UE3. But they were met by external influence that halted them. 2K games even sent people in the get it (finally) on track. And it was working, but ... too little too late.

This was finished (or made) by Gearbox ... an entirely different studio who bought all the rights to Duke Nukem after 3D realms got the boot on the ass. So it's not the same people at all.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Then by my count this is the fourth time. Guess we really are lucky.
From Quake 2 to Unreal 1 to what did you say? UE3? What is that, Unreal again? Now Gearbox... OK, Gearbox made Op4, So what engine are they using?

I guess in retrospect 3dRealms shoulda stuck it out with Q2, then released another version with U1. They'd have at least recouped their losses and saved face. Especially considering how close they were to finishing each time. I hope that whatever put Duke on the back burner was worth it. At the time Q2 was top notch, and U1 was no slouch. They coulda gotten a lot of run-time out of both. I reloaded Unreal a couple months ago, it still looked ok.

Just think, we'd have Duke VI at least by now.

My only concern now is that Gearbox might have rushed to appease the mob crowd mentality. Sometimes "Shit or get off the pot" just doesn't cut it.

I waited a long time for Stalker CoP. I coulda waited longer considering what I got stuck with.

What makes me worry is until you posted, I hadn't heard nothin about "Close to release" noise.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Well they had demos at PAX last year that people could play. You can find gameplay videos of it online. It's pretty cool. So there's been plenty of "it's coming for real" news in the last three years.

Gearbox is likely using UE3. I don't really think they started the thing over, they were already making ANOTHER Duke Nukem game while 3D Realms was still working on Forever, so it's possible they combined them.

Gearbox is a very good studio. Really the only games they've made that I don't like are the Brothers in Arms series. And it's just because weak handguns is a pet peeve of mine. Opposing Force was solid, Borderlands is great, so I have no worries.

The original creator of Duke is actually working at Gearbox now, so it makes sense. And I believe the president of the company started making games because of Duke 3D ... so I imagine it's in the best hands possible all things considered. The previous owners wouldn't have sold them the entire franchise if they thought otherwise (considering there were other companies trying to buy it for years)

So, I'm not really worried. The only thing that MIGHT worry me is people might be expecting some revolutionary FPS, when I really think it's going to be a throwback game to the mid-90s shooter and I think a lot of current gamers are going to think it, "Sucks" as a result.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Sometimes I think you forget. I didn't stop coming here for over 3 years. I stopped using the net, period.

I am literally 3 years behind on anything new net wise.

Before you ask how I could stop, it was really for my own peace of mind. Every time I snuck online with my laptop it just rubbed salt into the wounds that I had no net at home, so I quit cold turkey.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Yes, because I only explain things to people who already know all the information. How about a round of applause for the genius.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Pull them ears a bit closer to your noggin. You're ruining a perfect chance to be a prick.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

It looks like a lot of fun, but I'll believe it when I'm playing it. :P

The Only Sci-Fi movie you'll ever need to watch......ever!

[youtube]svOlz2ei4Yk&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Recently found out that my new video card rocks.

Left 4 Dead 2 all settings maxed, fan speed 50% (about 1600 RPM) an hour of gameplay ... max temperature was 41°C

I call that AWESOME.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Got a shitload out of that old ati rage pro didja?

You know that leaving us in suspense over which card preforms this well without divulging the make/model sux ass don'tcha?

Worse, if you mentioned it already and expect us to remember your cards make/model is truly...... Strange.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

EVGA GeForce GTX 460 SC EE 1GB To note I have an Antec 180 case, so the cooling is pretty awesome. Here's a picture of the inside layout: I have the added front GPU fan. So there's an intake there (120mm) and two outtakes on the top/back. The power supply and HDDs are thermally sealed from the rest of the case. So this helps.

Most benchmarks I've seen actually put the card about 15C higher.

My old 7900GT ran hot as hell in this same setup though, so it's not for nothing.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Nice. I like that inter cabinet fan you got. I always wondered why they didn't have those. It always seemed to me that mo matter how many case fans you have there are still places inside with no flow.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

I'm sure I could look it up, but for the sake of discussion: what's the advantage (or is there one?) ...for having the PSU on the bottom?

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

The only advantage there is lots of room around the CPU area.

The power supply is generally hot (I mean obviously all it does is draw electricity) as a result keeping it isolated from other components should make the temperature lower and keeping it thermally sealed away from the case should drop all ambient temperatures.

It also allows for more outtake air current because it's physically not in the way.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Juim said:
The Only Sci-Fi movie you'll ever need to watch......ever!

I think I just broke something trying to watch that video Juim. I'll brb. I gotta go potty now.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Bollywood

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Aaron's Stuff

Well, I decided to take the plunge and found out my computer can run Crysis very well. Except for the stupid CPU.

Put everything on high (except for CPU bound operations ... like physics which were on medium) And I can't go above high without fooling the game, since I'm running DX9.

But it was smooth. The only hiccups were at checkpoints. So, really held back by the CPU now.

Oh, and with software control ... GPU didn't get above ~52C. And that's a peak, the fan would kick up to about 70% and push it back down to the low 40s.

Which is awesome.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

When you say Crysis, you're talking about a new one perhaps?
I've had the game since two computers back and I never noticed it particularly needed any special PC...

That said, I didn't particularly like the game and only played it about an hour.

White box, says Crysis on front?

I might be thinking of another game.. I'm not at home and cannot remember. Silly game, starts out with you on a beach...

While we're on the subject.. What game is the most demanding now? Time was Doom 3 was the benchmark.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Orpheus said:
When you say Crysis, you're talking about a new one perhaps?
I've had the game since two computers back and I never noticed it particularly needed any special PC...

That said, I didn't particularly like the game and only played it about an hour.

White box, says Crysis on front?

I might be thinking of another game.. I'm not at home and cannot remember. Silly game, starts out with you on a beach...

While we're on the subject.. What game is the most demanding now? Time was Doom 3 was the benchmark.

Same Crysis. You might´ve been playing on medium settings or something, but it´s a game with one of the best graphics ever.

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Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/Nibgames

Just saw this trailer for a game called Dead Island. Don't know how it plays, or if the graphics engine used in the trailer is the same as the game but it sure looks damn good. See for yourself:
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/02/dead-island-trailer/
While this trailer was made by a third party studio, the game itself is based on the Chrome engine and there are some in-game shots here:
http://www.destructoid.com/impressions-your-first-look-at-dead-island-194120.phtml
While everyone is impressed with what they see, no one is saying anything else until they get more first hand experience with it. But it does look fun and will be available for the PC!

Niborius said:
Same Crysis. You might´ve been playing on medium settings or something, but it´s a game with one of the best graphics ever.

Better than Stalker Clearsky?
I guess I'm gonna have to reinstall it. I have yet to see anything compare to clearsky.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Orpheus said:
When you say Crysis, you're talking about a new one perhaps?
I've had the game since two computers back and I never noticed it particularly needed any special PC...

That said, I didn't particularly like the game and only played it about an hour.

White box, says Crysis on front?

I might be thinking of another game.. I'm not at home and cannot remember. Silly game, starts out with you on a beach...

While we're on the subject.. What game is the most demanding now? Time was Doom 3 was the benchmark.

Your right orph, Crysis starts you on a beach - play crysis on AA and AF maxes, then you'll see why its a beast.

Metro 2033 is pretty much the game thats demanding now. At least until Crysis 2 comes out (you can try the demo and tick that up to the max settings).

I guess its decided. I'm gonna reinstall it. I have a very hard time believing looks better than Clear Sky.. I drool every time I play it for the looks alone.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

It looks better than Clear Sky. And it has higher fidelity effects. (Everything is particle systems or volumetric) Chances are you weren't able to turn it up. I mean, initially, unless you apply some community patches ... you can't turn the effects up to very high unless you're using DX10.

I've heard a lot of people didn't like the game ... but I think if you don't like it, honestly, you're just not very creative when you play games and want to be held by the hand. I had a lot of fun, just like in Far Cry, with approaching encounters in ways other than "come in and shoot people".

Crysis 2, I'm thinking, will actually not have as hardcore of requirements as Crysis 1, it's MUCH more efficient. Consider that the same engine is running on a 360. It has more running, though ... so it does look better. For example, the lighting is all global illumination and the videos I've seen, it looks very pretty.

Looking at them both running at their maximum settings ...

Clear Sky http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdeh6wQcbLw
Crysis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_bGHsrqxj8

It's pretty obvious that you didn't have the settings turned up. Their default is low.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I'm not gonna argue till I get home. I cannot see how a demo video will display properly if the machine running it cannot do it justice. IE, I am not sure this laptop will render it well.

BUT, looking at the pics, I see a night view, which sux no matter what version of DX is used, and a bright daylight jungle.

Now, no one can justify comparing a green jungle to a post nuclear city/woodland game. Its just not a good comparison cause most people will focus on the bright pretty colors vs. the drab browns.

I have played Clear Sky on maximum. Its freaking awesome, If Crysis is truly better, I'll see it... Assuming my 4850 ATi will render it I guess. If not it will wait till I get my new card.

The question is, have you played Clear Sky? If not then I suggest you not sound 100% sure till you do... 99% is ok, but leave some room for comparisons done on your own PC.

[edit] These things I know to be true:
[*]Harder to render doesn't mean looks better. HL2 looks better than Doom 3 but Doom 3 is harder to render.
[*]If Clearsky were harder to render than Crysis, they'd be using Clearsky instead.
[*]Looking better is 100% opinion.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Juim said:
Just saw this trailer for a game called Dead Island. Don't know how it plays, or if the graphics engine used in the trailer is the same as the game but it sure looks damn good. See for yourself:
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/02/dead-island-trailer/

I dunno why but I found it incredibly disturbing to see the little girl getting killed. I always assumed that it was against the law to show minors being harmed in a video game.

Yes its just a game. I'm not one of those fanatics but still it bothered me for some reason..

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The best things in life, aren't things.

There is no law relegating video games ... or movies ... or books ... or even TV. What governs them is community/owner guidelines.

Clear Sky looks moderately better than Stalker did (and Call of Pripyat looks moderately better than that) I've seen them both in fully glory. I don't own it (yet), but it's pretty damn cheap, I always find something else I want more. (Like $4 cheap)

Anyway, nobody is saying Clear Sky doesn't look nice ... but it's not graphically better. Especially because of things like object interactions. Crysis has some pretty intense junk going on when the action gets going.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

So far, none of my family has been injured or killed in Libya. Most of them live about 5 miles out from Tripoli.

I think my uncle went to Tunisia.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Adam, did you intend to post this here? I mean, its strange to recently found that you haven't lost any family. I'm glad for you but it seems odd to post it in such an off hand way.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Where am I suppose to post it? I'm not going to make a pity me thread.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Crono said:
Where am I suppose to post it? I'm not going to make a pity me thread.

You're doing one of those girl things again wise ass. My wife begins a sentence in the middle and fully expects me to know the beginning with no clue as to where the sentence started.

Were we of Snarkpit supposed to be privy to your families imminent harm or what?

I was genuinely curious as to how, or even why anyone would recently know that their family was alive and well. I know it happens. Its not an unknown concept. Its just not Adam's habit to talk about his family. You're kinda private old man.

If you feel that our concern about your kin would be taken as pity, then why bother to post anything?

We cannot help being concerned for a fellow member.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Recently found: Propper

Don't if it's been discussed 'round here before but I thought I'd mention it.

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Now remember kids. Asking questions is a good way to get censored by the government.

Pretty cool Mundus.. thanks for the post.

Orpheus said:
You're doing one of those girl things again wise ass. My wife begins a sentence in the middle and fully expects me to know the beginning with no clue as to where the sentence started.

Were we of Snarkpit supposed to be privy to your families imminent harm or what?

I was genuinely curious as to how, or even why anyone would recently know that their family was alive and well. I know it happens. Its not an unknown concept. Its just not Adam's habit to talk about his family. You're kinda private old man.

If you feel that our concern about your kin would be taken as pity, then why bother to post anything?

We cannot help being concerned for a fellow member.

... The entire paternal side of my family lives in Libya. Which, I said in the original post.

I just found out that they're OK, for the first time since all the protesters being shot started happening.

It's not that complicated, and since it's something I just found out ... where would I put it exactly? I don't want to make a thread that just focuses on it.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Condus Mundus said:
Recently found: Propper

Don't know if it's been discussed 'round here before but I thought I'd mention it.

I feel stupid for forgetting the "know". I need a new language, english is getting on my nerves.

By the way, just call me CM for short.

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Now remember kids. Asking questions is a good way to get censored by the government.

Yeah that's been mentioned here before, I think haymaker showed off a truck he made with it?

It's a really fantastic tool because there's still a lot of level designers who haven't learnt any 3d modeling packages, considering how important modeling is to level design now. The only disadvantage with this is of course you're still bound by the limitations of hammer/bsp geometry e.g you couldn't build a complex character model with this. But this is viewed more as a "level optimization tool" and not a modeling tool as such and I think it does a 100% job at just that.

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Aaron's Stuff

Crono said:
... The entire paternal side of my family lives in Libya. Which, I said in the original post.

I just found out that they're OK, for the first time since all the protesters being shot started happening.

It's not that complicated, and since it's something I just found out ... where would I put it exactly? I don't want to make a thread that just focuses on it.

I guess I missed this original post somehow.. I don't recall in all the years we've known each other that we've ever talked about your kin.

As for where to post, anyplace is fine. Excepting a map thread, I don't reckon it matters.

and
I'm glad you got good news about your kin...

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Well it's bad news for the rest of Tripoli. The dickbag is arming teenagers, mercenaries, released prisoners (non-political, of course), and thugs and telling them to go out on the streets and kill anyone who is attempting to document what's happening or appears anti-government in any way.

While I know this is really REALLY a final stretch to keep power ... he'll lose. But at the same time, he wants to kill as many people as he can in the process.

To note, the anti-government people are not armed and are NOT instigating fighting. They are being attacked.

People who they find that've leaked information to external media are being kidnapped out of their homes, also.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Free MP3's

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Orpheus said:
Free MP3's

BeeMP3 This one is good as well

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Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/Nibgames

Crono said:
Well it's bad news for the rest of Tripoli. The dickbag is arming teenagers, mercenaries, released prisoners (non-political, of course), and thugs and telling them to go out on the streets and kill anyone who is attempting to document what's happening or appears anti-government in any way.

While I know this is really REALLY a final stretch to keep power ... he'll lose. But at the same time, he wants to kill as many people as he can in the process.

To note, the anti-government people are not armed and are NOT instigating fighting. They are being attacked.

People who they find that've leaked information to external media are being kidnapped out of their homes, also.

It often blows my mind to think there are places in the world experiencing that while I walk into Best Buy. It's disgusting.

Face Book.
Took Aaron like an hour or less to notice I created an account. LOL..

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The best things in life, aren't things.

yeah you showed up in the friend suggestion area thats why. You should try playing farmville and add me as a neighbour.

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Aaron's Stuff

Next-step, some kind of facebook integration. Who got you involved in FB orph?

I didn't intend to join really. However I was searching for a lost friend and found him there. The rest snowballed.

I suppose we need to have a facebook thread. If for no other reason than for some to know what to avoid to stay away from us.

At least with that we can chose whom NOT to allow.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

There were 23 people here simultaneously yesterday.
starts humming
"Happy days are here again..."

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The best things in life, aren't things.

New X-Men movie coming soon.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Recently found that I still can't finish a stupid map. I have so much free time you would expect I would be like a factory turning out dozens of, at least average, maps.

But I still can't get past the whole "calling it good enough for now and moving on" stage. Thus is the trap of the perfectionist.

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Now remember kids. Asking questions is a good way to get censored by the government.

I do not blame ya whatsoever. It's hard to churn out a map you're satisfied with. Having a good map is one thing, but having one you're happy about is another. It's good to hold yourself to high standards, that's why it's always good to grab amateur opinion. What I have done in the past is when I am at a similar stage, I grab people I know IRL (who don't map) and get their opinion to my face about the map. Perhaps I let them play it. This way you get "big picture" crits -which is what someone not familiar with the engine will see. Then you know how bad your perfectionism is. If after three playtests you aren't hearing really big things, then you may be ready to be done with the map, or at least put it down and come back to it after a while with fresh eyes.

Either way, there's a lot you can do to feel good about the map.

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

Create a thread for the map and post up some screenshots, we'll have a look.

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Aaron's Stuff