id Software programmer Graeme Devine has brought some good news to the Mac gaming front today as he reveals two important pieces of news for fans of id games. First, a new update to the popular first-person shooter Quake III has already been planned, and will be released at the same time as both the Linux and Windows version. It will also require OS X 10.1 or later to run:

We will be releasing the Macintosh Quake 3 client hand in hand with the Win32 / Linux clients. We'll also require Mac OS X 10.1 or later for this release.

DOOM is up and running under 10.2, which as an OS is really quite cool (speed is much better than 10.1, although resizing a browser window is still painful).

Q3 Update Info

Activision

id Software

Quake III Arena

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In an official press release, the mac publishing label of Destineer, Bold, has announced that the highly anticipated golf simulator, Links Championship Edition is now available to Macintosh gamers at a store shelf near you.

Links Championship Edition is the newest addition to the already popular Links franchise. This new, improved version of the older Links games includes several exciting changes for fans of the series. Thirteen full courses, 17 different golfers, a course designer, and OS X compatibility are just a few of the new enhancements featured in Links Championship Edition

And now, the official press release:

Destineer's Macintosh label, Bold, announces that Microsoft's highly anticipated top-selling golf sim, Links™ Championship Edition, is now available for Macintosh. The game began shipping to stores and end-users on July 26.

"Links Championship Edition is a massive package," according to Destineer's president Peter Tamte. "Earlier Links products usually shipped with 5 courses. Links Championship Edition includes 13 full courses. Plus, the entire game has been re-written to offer completely new graphics and physics. And, we are also now including a course designer -- which is a full 3D editing application that lets players create their own courses."

Links Championship Edition now includes 17 different golfers, including Sergio Garcia, Annika Sorenstam, and more. Other features in Links Championship Edition include a Course Converter, which lets users of many earlier Links games import their older courses. Additionally, users can download thousands of courses created by other Links users free from the Web. Links players can now also compete online through either a direct connection or through GameRanger.

Links Championship Edition for Macintosh works with Mac OS 9 or higher, as well as natively on Mac OS X. The game runs well on most Macintosh computers with a G3 or G4 processor running at 266Mhz or faster and at least 64MB of RAM. Destineer recommends a 300MHz or faster processor and at least 128MB of RAM to use the game's Arnold Palmer Course Designer.

IMG Preview: Links Championship Edition

Bold

Links Championship Edition

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Click to enlarge

The results of an IRC chat with Mark Rein of Epic have recently been posted online at FasterFiles. The topic, naturally, was Unreal Tournament 2003. While the transcript is rather lengthy and disorganized, there are slivers of information here and there that should be of interest to gamers anticipating this title.

One guest inquires as to the graphic tweaking of UT2003 compared to Quake 3 in terms of control. Rein replies that the graphics can't be "dumbed down" very much. Texture details and shadows can be modified, for example, but things like render modes can't be modified.

An oft-asked question concerns the PC demo, which Rein confirms should be out in about 2 weeks or so. As far as plans for a Mac version of UT, when asked, Rein replies that there are "no plans for Mac yet."

Rein also makes some comments about the improved bot AI, noting that bots will use the translocator more effectively when travelling across a map.

The rest of the transcript covers miscellaneous information, such as performance with particular graphics cards, weapons details, and game modes. Readers are warned that the chat contains a lot of profanity and immature statements, and is definitely not G-rated. Those who wish to peruse the whole read can find it at FasterFiles.

FasterFiles - Mark Rein in IRC Chat

Digital Extremes

Unreal Tournament 2003

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Quake site PlanetQuake3.net has recently posted an MPEG of a series of testimonials put together by graphics company ATI. The video, which features several representatives of prominent computer game companies, gathers comments on the R300, the processor for ATI's recently announced Radeon 9700.

Among the people who make statements are Chris Dyl of Turbine, responsible for Asheron's Call 2, Chris Taylor of Gas Powered Games, makers of Dungeon Siege, and John Carmack of id, who shows off footage of Doom III.

Each person extols the power of the R300 with enthusiasm. Dyl notes that Asheron's Call 2 can be run at full graphics settings with it, Taylor praises ATI's driver support and communication with developers, and Carmack adds that the R300 easily outperforms other cards in terms of performance, quality, and flexibility.

As a side note, the testimonial also includes impressive footage of the above games, particularly Doom III. Gamers who missed the footage shown at E3 can now take a look at it in high quality through the video.

Those interested in downloading the video can find it at PlanetQuake3.net. While quite large, weighing in at 77.38 MB, the video is of excellent quality and is recommended to those wishing to hear praise from industry leaders for ATI's latest as well as catch some incredible Doom III footage.

PlanetQuake3.net - Radeon 9700 Movie Download

IMG - ATI Unveils Radeon 9000/9700

ATI

VendorNation.com is hosting its very first Galactica A.D. tournament, titled "Rogue Tourney", and anyone who owns the game is invited:

The Galactica AD Rogue Tourney starts soon. Our first tournament starts with 36 players each battling against computer and human players until only one. Specially designed tournament maps to play on.

Game play in Galactica is a matter of building starships, and using those ships to colonize the galaxy, protect your territory, and defeat the other players in combat. Your level of technology is crucial. Higher levels of technology allow your ships to move faster, and give them an advantage in combat over ships with lower tech levels. Your star systems also defend themselves from attacking ships based on their level of technology.

Galactica A.D.: Rogue Tourney

Monkey Byte

Galactica A.D.

SharkyExtreme.com, a site devoted to keeping the world informed as to the cutting edge of personal computer technology has published a sneak peak at some of the upcoming products from NVIDIA. The article goes into some considerable depth about the features of the NV3x architecture and Cg Programming Language which sound nothing if not impressive. Here is their introduction:

Last week at Siggraph, NVIDIA discussed some of the next-generation features of both the NV3x architecture and their Cg language. This is far from a hardware product launch, but it does give us an opportunity to present some of the new features present in the NV3x architecture, as well as how these may affect the future of 3D gaming.

New Nvidia Hardware Sneak Peek

NVIDIA

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