|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
News
Playback.demWelcome to a new mini-feature on Frag-Net, where we try to have a round up of interesting news on the community along with a status report on our gaming network. Frag-Net Status ReportAnd as we mentioned before we have been working on new site features, here’s a couple we’ve recently revealed! New Games on Frag-NetWe added two new game pages, Hell Denizen and Nazi Zombies: Portable. You may have seen these games show up on our tracker, and we wanted to provide some proper info so people could buy, support, and of course play these awesome titles. Check them out now! Preview of New ArticlesIt’s been a bit silent on Frag-Net, but that’s because things have been so busy in the background and our own lives! Don’t fret however, as we have been working on a few articles for the site! What can you expect in the next couple of months?
Updates to Our Archive.org PageFor those of you who don’t know, we have an archive.org page where we try to build the ultimate upload page for a mod, like how our Scientist Hunt page has everything that was created by the authors and community (well at least what we have). Anyway, we had a few important mods up with pages but in a Work-In-Progress state for quite some time. We decided that it was time to update these pages. Some of the highlights include:
We hope you take advantage of our uploads! While they will also help power the Frag-Net network’s in-game addon backend, it’s ultimately there for the community. Past & ManualsFinally, we have started hosting copies of HTML versions of manuals
for modifications and archived websites providing a ‘wayback machine’
layout for them (i.e. always prefix a site with
We also have a smiliar layout for manuals, with
As mentioned above, we are hosting the Clan Cthulhu / Quake THINGS! website along with Fantasy Quake’s amazing manual, check them out! The latter is definitely a must for when you play Fantasy Quake. Gaming NewsBlue’s Stories of NoteHere’s what our favorite gaming news site, Blue’s News has listed as the top stories for March 2024 that you should be aware of, list is oldest to newest: Another remaster of a beloved classic arrives, Apple gets sued formally by the United States’ Department of Justice, and Embracer’s empire seems to be shrinking as fast as it was growing. What a month! While those are some big stories, we have some more news in the gaming world worth talking about! GDC 2024The annual Game’s Developers Conference, Game Developers Choice Awards, and Independent Games Festival Awards happened the 18th to 22nd, here’s some highlights of the event:
Congrats to the winners of the award shows! To learn more about the GDC and related conferences, click here. Thanks to Blue’s News and Slashdot PAX East 2024In addition, PAX East also had their annual event this 21st to 24th. Besides the hundreds of games showcased at the event, Games Done Quick also was there showcasing their bhoping skills! Be sure to check out more and sign up for PAX West and next year’s PAX East! LAN Parties - New Book on Deathmatch HistoryA new book called LAN Parties by Merrit K released earlier this year, but it was recently brought to our attention by some of the latest press on the book. Here’s a small blurb from the store page:
We thought it was worth mentioning here as fragging friends is one our favorite pass times, be sure to purchase a copy here. Story sourced from CNN Copyright ObjectionNintendo has used the legal system to shut down the popular Switch emulator, Yuzu. Alternative emulators, like Ryujinx were not affected by this. Right away forks started appearing. First people flocked over to Suyu (which was removed by GitLab right away), others are observing the fork Sudachi. We can only wait and see to determine if any particular fork wins out or if they all diverge into their own niche. Gaming News: CommunityAnd of course we have to highlight what’s been going on in the community! The Dark Mod 2.12 ReleasesThe Dark Mod, the famous Thief inspired fan game, has a new release! The news post on ModDB boasts of a few new important additions and fixes:
Grab a copy here! Call of Duty Mod Goes Retail, and 16 Years of FrontlinesIt’s hard to believe that Call of Duty is over 20 years old now. While the rest of us are wondering where the time went, the modders and fans of the series are busy celebrating the 16th anniversary of Call of Duty Frontlines. In addition to the milestone, a spin-off mod of Frontlines titled Call of Duty Rio is going to become a standalone game. The recently announced Commando Rio can be found here. As some of us have made the jump from modders to developers, we wish Hajas Game Studio the best of luck! Keep an eye out for more news from the team. What Happens in CS, Stays in CS!Fellow retrogamer and enthusiast ESCalation has put out a new video detailing the complicated history of de_vegas! Did you know that most people never got to play Vegas online when it released, or that the Sphinx used to be completely modeled out? Check out the video here! And for the classic port of de_vegas to Counter-Strike: Source that is mentioned in the video, you can click here. New FreeHL VideosFrag-Net’s own eukara did release two videos in regards to FreeHL: There’s more videos coming down the line, focusing on more mods, games and various internal improvements. All in AllAnd that’s it! We hope you enjoyed our first entry in this new series. Writing these articles will help us document the things that are happening and select info will go right into our game event & anniversary calendars. If you have any news you think we missed, should share on Frag-Net, suggestions, or even complaints, let us know. You know where to find us! Happy Fragging
John Romero hosted a livestream on id Software’s 33rd Anniversary the other day, surprising fans by inviting John Carmack, Tom Hall, and David L Craddock along for the event! The stream was mirrored to YouTube by Romero and we recommend you check it out. Long live id Software!
Early last January we were sadden to learn that former developer and activist Jennell Allyn Jaquays passed away, with her funeral concluding yesterday. Jennell had a long career as an artist and video game developer, working on some of our favorite games such as a level designer for id Software working on Quake II & III as well as an artist on Age of Empires. Her Dungeons & Dragon’s modules were famous, known for their pathbreaking or non-linera designs. In fact, her contributions were so influential that “Jaquaysing” has become a verb for a dungeon scenario with “myriad paths”. She was inducted into The Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Hall of Fame in 2015. Later in life she came out as a transgendered lesbian, spoke out about agin conversion therapy, was a freelance artist, and married other former video game developer, Burger Becky. Along with her funeral, an obituary by the New York Times was written about her yesterday, we suggest you check it out here. Thanks to Blue’s News for the link. We like to leave the last word to the dead, so here’s a short but fun interview with Jennell from Quakeidge back when she was working on Quake III. Her level design advice is still solid today. Rest in Peace.
Frag-Net is turning 5 years old! To celebrate, we’ll be getting together on this Friday, at 3 PM PST/6 PM EST to play some QuakeWorld. We’ll be playing on the QuakeWorld server at idtech.space. See you then!
DOOM Turns 30…This year has been full of amazing anniversaries. Still fresh off the heels of Half-Life and Thief’s big 25, we’re excited to say, HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY DOOM! DOOM is a game that disrupted everything in some way, with games like Half-Life owing their entire existence to this game! It’s true that Wolfenstein 3D created the FPS as we know it, but DOOM solidified the foundation of the genre. Curvy, fully textured colorful angled rooms, excess ultra violence, refined gunplay, and not-so-subtle covers of famous metal staples was something not really seen before in a “3D” video game, especially one that did all this all blazing fast (for the time). It was also one of the first Co-op or Deathmatch experiences many people ever had, with even ourselves having memories of playing it with our siblings, parents, etc. In addition to that, it also allowed anyone to mod it. While modding was not initially something id had planned or supported, their dedication to being open and accepting of community creations led to Quake having a proper SDK for code changes, the sanctioning and selling of community creations that helped fund the creators, and the realization within the industry how important communities are. Even I (Xylemon) started making my first levels for any video game with DOOM when I was just 11. Like I said, it changed almost everything and everyone who was graced by it’s presence. Looking BackWe could write paragraphs about DOOM, but it’s a game everyone has talked to death about. So instead, we’re gonna highlight some of our favorite retrospective pieces that you should check out if you haven’t seen or read them before:
What the Community SaysWe at Frag-Net are avid DOOM fans, but the DOOM community is huge, and they are always busy releasing interesting new projects. Here is some headlines you should know about: Cacowards 2023Doomworld has revealed their annual Cacowards, where the best of the DOOM Community is honored. As always, we have a heartwarming introduction, this year’s being written by @Cardboard Marty, one of the judges. The highlights of this year include:
Just to name a few of the winners and special mentions, go on ahead and read the rest for yourself SIGIL IIJohn Romero has released SIGIL II, the sequel to his popular 2019 DOOM WAD, SIGIL. This is pack of 8 levels for the original DOOM created by Romero doing what he loves and does best. It can be bought in a physical form or downloaded for free. The good stuff:
Check SIGIL II out here! You can also find there original SIGIL there, or alternatively over at the file archive of Doomworld /idgames. Eviternity IIIn a surprise no one saw coming, Eviternity II released! This massive 36 megawad is a sequel to the original Eviternity. With huge, beautiful, and clever level design, this is a must download. Check out the wonderful site here! Be sure you have a compatible source port installed. Yes, you need DOOM II for this one. Shouldn’t stop you from playing it though! EventsWe are going to be playing some classic DOOM deathmatch on Odamex today. So watch out in the list for the ‘Frag-Net’ branded server. We’ll start playing at 5 PM (PST) / 1 AM (UTC). Hurt Me PlentySo with all that out of the way, go on then and boot up DOOM. Whether you play it classic with Chocolate DOOM, like to go all out with GZDOOM or Zandronum, crazy/weird enough to boot it on a printer or iPod, or are a true hardcore player and have it open in DOS, it doesn’t matter as long as you slay a few demons today! - Older news are in the Archive |
Aliens vs Predator Command & Conquer Daggerfall Daikatana Descent Descent II Deus Ex Doom Doom II Duke Nukem 3D Gunman Chronicles Half-Life Hell Denizen HeXen II Jedi Academy Jedi Knight Jedi Knight II Kingpin Nazi Zombies: Portable Prey Quake Quake II Quake III Arena Red Alert Red Alert 2 RtCW Rune SiN ST: Elite Force Tiberian Sun Unreal Tournament The Wastes Support us! |