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The Epic Games / NVIDIA online chat has concluded and Epic Vice President Mark Rein mentioned at the very end of the chat that the demo for their multiplayer shooter Unreal Tournament 2004 will be released “within two weeks.” To read the chat log posted on Beyond Unreal, go HERE.
UPDATE: February 11, 2004 – Demo released. See this post.
The weekly blog update from Bungie was posted this morning. Along with the update was the first screenshot of Halo 2’s multiplayer. Here’s a clip from the update:
It’s really important to point out that this screen is straight from the current game engine. The resolution is a little sharper thanks to the way screens are dumped from the frame buffer, but this is entirely representative of the lighting, polygon counts, bump-mapping and particle effects. There’s no trickery or BS here. And of course, this is early stuff, so things will change and improve between now and launch. We basically played the game and took a ton of shots until we finally picked the one that rocked the hardest, and best represented what playing that level was like.
Of course this is a multiplayer level, and no doubt you’ll be scanning the shot for details, clues and hints about what to expect from the game. We did deliberately try not to give too much away, but sharp-eyed Halo fans will see plenty. Working with the multiplayer build opened us up to a lot of the cool technology that it’s built around, and just about every step revealed some amazing new facet of the game – everything from the animation on the Warthog wheels to the bump-mapping on Master Chief’s gloves. We barely even begin to comprehend the labyrinthine depths of this software and its associated tools. And special thanks to Chris, Ben, Mat and the guys for helping show us what’s possible and how best to use it.
You can check out the full update and check out the screenshot HERE.
I came across a link tonight of someone’s list of the deviations between The Lord of the Rings books and the movies. He explains in detail, with page references, all the differences that he noted and his opinions. You can read through the lengthy write up HERE.
Following in others footsteps, such as Google and Yahoo, Microsoft has released a toolbar to add on to Internet Explorer. The toolbar features seach, highlight viewer, pop-up guard and quicklinks to Hotmail, Messenger and MSN. Requirements are Windows 98/ME/2000/XP and IE 5.01+. The download for version 1.0.1322.0 is only 197KB and can be downloaded from the MSN Toolbar Homepage.
The Mydoom, aka Novarg, is a mass-mailing worm and it is spreading quickly through the internet. It could arrive with various subject lines such as test, hi, hello, Mail Delivery System, Mail Transaction Failed, Server Report, Status or Error. It will also carry an attachment that ends in either pif, scr, exe, cmd, bat or zip. If the attachments on the email are opened, it will install a backdoor that opens up TCP ports 3127 through 3198 which allow an attacker to connect to it and potentially download and execute arbitrary files. The worm will also perform a Denial of Service attack starting on February 1, 2004 and is set to stop spreading on the 12th. For more information and removal instructions, check out Symantec’s Security Response.
Bootskin 1.0 has been released from Stardock. It’s a free download and allows you to change your boot screen in Windows 2000 or XP from the default one. Unlike other programs that can change the Windows XP boot screens, BootSkin does so in a safe manner. It doesn’t patch the Windows XP kernel. Nor does it require the user to download replacement Windows XP kernels to do so. I’ve added a few Matrix inspired downloads to the download section for Stardock’s Bootskin and LogonStudio. Also in the downloads section is a local link for Bootskin. If you haven’t downloaded LogonStudio, then you can get it HERE.
In my search for more information on the movies I’m looking forward to this year. (See this post), I have found a little bit more information I thought was interesting.
If you haven’t checked out The Punisher site yet, it’s here. When scrolling through the page you will see the blue screen on a video camera which you can click on. This takes you to another scene you can scroll through. If you click on the guns you will get an access denied, but if you go near the bottom over a file on the table, you will then zoom in. This is where you can click and get access to some “Top Secret” files that you can view. The only other clickable area when zoomed in is the video camera which also gives an access denied message. If you go back to the main screen, you can also click on some paper on a table with a gun near it. That will load a closeup of the table where you can click on the various papers to read them. One will load a new page with access to a database about Frank Castle that you can go through. So overall it is a pretty nice site. I probably missed some. If so, post the rest in the comments.
The Official Site for The Chronicles of Riddick has now been launched. I looked into the Catwoman and Blade:Trinity sites. The Catwoman site is now online with only a logo, but the Blade site is still not online, but I did notice that www.bladetrinity.com was registered by New Line, so it will most likely be the official site where it will be put online. As for the Constantine site, I haven’t found any information on that one yet.
In Daredevil news, the Director’s Cut DVD will include many new scenes, be rated R, and get a spring release.
“More so than many director’s cuts that you’ll see, it’s really a different experience. Not only are there other subplots and things in it, there are turns in his character, darker turns, and more interesting turns that he takes in this version.” is what Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige had to say on the release.
Finally, here are a couple movie poster images and a shot of Halle Berry as Catwoman.
Click for a larger view
American McGee, creator of the video game “Alice”, has decided to tell his version of “The Wizard of Oz” and it seems there may be a movie made from it. Here’s the info found on Comingsoon.net:
Video game creator American McGee, who most recently brought a twisted retelling of “Alice in Wonderland” to gamers, has turned his imagination on The Wizard of Oz, says The Hollywood Reporter.
Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Walt Disney Pictures have optioned the movie rights already, and other media deals are either signed or pending. There’s no time frame for the first film of what will be a trilogy, McGee said, but screenwriters Kevin and Dan Hageman are attached.
McGee said games, books and other projects featuring his unique vision of “Oz” also are being developed.