The "Silent Night" Capture the Flag arena—described as "a slightly re-worked version of an arena from Team Arena called 'Distant Screams'"—will get you a chance to settle your differences with rocket launchers, while everyone's dressed in Santa suits or slightly sluttier Vixen reindeer get ups. Of course, the whole thing is free, in the Quake Live way, so if this is your first time trying out the web based game, there's really no obligation. Play it or don't. See if I care!

Holiday Cheer [Official Site]

It's moving into beta as we converse, with 100,000 spots available, but since those spots are Korea-only, that information is presented only as information, not a recommendation.

Still, you'd expect the final game to be a little easier to sign up for, especially given the Western origins of the IP. In the meantime, feel free to blunder your way through the Korean site below, which has plenty of media for you to find randomly, all the while wishing Google Translator did as good a job with Korean as it does with French or Spanish.

[Quake Wars Online]

ZeniMax, which of course now owns iD software, filed the DMCA complaint with Google. Developer L!TH!UM told the site Android and Me that Doom for Android, offered for free, was built with open source code but "My mistake was allowing the download of the Plutonia and TNT WADs, at least that is what I suspect."

"Although I may not be able to distribute the application through the Market, the APK can still be downloaded and installed through the web," the dev said.

Other ports pulled include: Ultimate Doom; Quake Platinum; Doom II; Wolf 3D: Spear of Destiny (two versions); Wolfenstein 3D; Quake GL; Wolfenstein 3D Lite (Beta 2) and Doom Soundboard.

iD Software frags Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein ports for Android [Android and Me via Game Politics]

Nowhere is the realization of flight grander or more satisfying than in video games. When done right, flying in a game can leave a lasting impression on both players and developers that impacts every game they play or make going forward.

Telltale Games designer Mike Stemmle pointed this out while demoing Tales of Monkey Island Episode 3 for me in September. I asked what gameplay inspirations helped him develop for Monkey Island and after a moment's pause he said, "Kingdom Hearts."

"Oh, because it has pirates?" I asked.

"No," he said. "It's the flying." The way the game introduces flying the player -– about halfway through its storyline after you've been running and jumping on the ground the whole time -– was like a revelation in game design for him. "Because once you get [to fly in Never Land], it's like you knew it was coming. It just felt right."

There's a fantasy fulfillment that comes with flying in video games. And even if flying in a game is just another way to get from point A to point B, it's appealing to a part of your senses that you don't use very much in everyday gameplay.

"We live in a very X, Y world," Dark Void Senior Producer Morgan Gray said. A veteran of flight games like X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter and X-Wing Alliance, he knows his Z axis and isn't afraid to build his games around it. "If you look at … shooters, when they first came out, everything was flat. [There was] a roof over your head and walls on all sides. It was only really when you got to games … where you had enemies [above or below you] where you had to start exploring the Z axis."

Like Doom players that had to learn to use the mouse to enjoy Quake, your average gamer has to put in effort to master flight. Instead of thinking in only one or two directions, he or she has to think in a 360 degree bubble where enemies can come from any angle. They have to be aware of their character's (or aircraft's) physics so that they don't get lost when trying to execute a turn. Some games make it easier for the player by limiting the range of flight to forward-only like Star Fox or Panzer Dragoon; other games like Dark Void layer on tutorial after tutorial to make absolutely sure you internalize the controls before cutting you loose in the wild blue yonder.

By that same token, developers without Gray's flight-filled background have to work a lot harder to implement flying. Whereas Gray can look back over both his career and his childhood and see Chuck Yeager's face mocking him after Gray had crashed and burned in Advanced Flight Training, some developers only have memories of Star Fox or Wing Commander as their flying inspiration. They don't realize that there's more to flight than getting off the ground.

"Don't get me wrong," says Gray. "[Wing Commander's] level design was great, the ship design was great, progression was great. The actual nuts and bolts of flight? All pretty arcade-y because [it didn't feel] like there was meat to the simulation."

Developers with traditional level-making experience on shooters or adventure games that have the walls on all sides and the roof overhead have new challenges when making an enjoyable flying sequence or full game. They have to relearn how to organize a level around enemy spawn points in spaces with no walls or roofs.

"You really need to use enemies not only as a way of making a challenge for the player, but as defining space because [players] have to have that frame of reference for ‘where am I in the terrain?'" said Gray. "If you get [the timing right], it really gives the [flight] meaning and puts a plot to the [enemy] encounters. It's different than ‘And now we walk you in this room and find the blue key,' because you don't get blue keys in the air."

He compared a perfect flight level to a map called De Dust in Counter-Strike. To him, it was obvious that some developer had sat down with a stopwatch and timed how long it would take enemies to reach players when spawning from two different points on the map. That developer knew exactly where the player would be and what they would be doing when the enemy got to them, and they build the level outward around the player from that point.

Flying levels, Gray said, should be built the exact same way.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the upcoming Avatar for the Wii. A flight level with a giant lizard bird was the centerpiece of a demo given to me by creative director Daniel Bisson and he wasn't shy about telling me it was the hardest level to design. In early efforts, the enemies spawned too fast and the Wii Balance Board was over-responsive to even the slightest shift in weight, causing the lizard bird to pitch wildly and slam into spawning enemies. As the level developed, they added more environmental boundaries like tunnels and trees to define the flying space and confined 360 degree movements to quick time events.

So what began as a flying level instead turned into an arcade-style on-rails experience. Sure, you're up in the sky on the back of a bird. But, there's not much fantasy fulfillment and no raw freedom in having your hand held.

The trick is keeping reality from ruining fantasy. Yes, it's a lot of work to pilot an X-Wing in the Star Wars: Battlefront games; but if you get to blow up a TIE Fighter as a reward for your patience, you don't mind sinking effort into learning how to be a pilot. Likewise, War in the upcoming Darksiders would look silly with a pair of wings sprouting from his burly back; but hijacking a gryphon from an angel for a quick joyride through a ruined city appeals to the fantasy of the character and doesn't last so long that the game needs to bog the player down with real physics.

Above: The lone flying level in Darksiders.

With Crimson Skies and flight sims on side of the spectrum and our Star Foxes and Panzer Dragoons on the other, there are so many ways gamers can fulfill the fantasy of flight. Each new game that introduces a flying segment or builds its entire experience around the thrill of strapping on a jetpack builds on the collective fantasy gamers and developers share of taking to the skies.

The ultimate dream of flight in games, says Gray, is this: "I don't know where I'm at, but I'm having fun."

Image Cred — Kingdom Hearts
Title Image: The Fall of Icarus, Peter Paul Rubens, 1636

So all this week, I'm going to try to play games with earthquakes in them. I guess I could widen that to include games with bridge collapses, since part of the Bay Bridge fell during the quake. And if I was feeling really desperate for something to do, I could go find a copy of R.B.I. Baseball since I was probably playing that instead of watching the real ballgame that day.

Here's what I've got:

Fracture
Bad Day L.A.
Incredible Crisis
Any SimCity game
Cities XL
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask – if you let the moon crash into the planet
Any Final Fantasy game where enemies keep casting Earthquake
Quake – even though there aren't any earthquakes in it

Anybody got any other games I can add to this obscure list?

Reznor tells Digg founder Kevin Rose that he and Nine Inch Nails art director Rob Sheridan once pitched a game a couple years ago to "a few big publishers." The response, from apparently all those pitched, was disheartening, says Reznor.

"Well, it costs so much to make a game, we're really only interested in sequels or movie tie-ins," Reznor was told. That goes against the Reznor philosophy, apparently, as he weighed in on the industry's cookie cutter design.

"I think a lot of the big publishers have gone the route of record labels and movie companies where it costs so much to make a game and they're so obsessed with the idea that games have to be cinematic experiences," the musician said. "Lots of money gets spent on the marketing and the rendering, and not a lot of money gets puts into anything innovative and interesting."

These days, Reznor says, he's much more interested in the kind of fare one finds on WiiWare and Xbox Live Arcade, things like Geometry Wars, which harkens back to Reznor's favorite game of all time, Robotron.

Any budding developers willing to tackle Nine Inch Nails: The Video Game?

Digg Dialogg - Trent Reznor [Revision 3 via NeoGAF]

QuakeCon 2009 will take place Aug. 13 through Aug. 16 in Dallas, Texas at the Hilton Anatole Hotel. The event is free to all attendees.

To register hop onto the official site at 9:30 p.m. EST on March 6.

QuakeCon 2009

See, the game is proving a little popular. Maybe too popular. I jumped on this morning to test it out, and instead of playing, instead ended up in a queue. "No big deal", I though, I'll sit it out for 10-15 minutes, leave the browser window open.

Then I looked at where I was in the queue. Think I'll try again next week/month.

At the ripe age of 65, he bought his first shooter: DOOM II. It took him months to complete the game, and he had problems avoiding the fireballs. It was, after all, only his first FPS! Known online as aki_tan, he's gotten quite adept.

"I don’t do multi, nor co-op. I want to enjoy the game I’m into when I want, that’s how I feel," he says. "Aside from playing, I like to write walkthroughs, so you could say the way I enjoy them is a little different to most." His website has walkthroughs for shooters that range from Crysis to Quake. (It's even got a section on cheats!) His friends and family are happy he's found something too keep him from going senile, Kitajima reckons.

While he's head over heels for FPS titles, Kitajima doesn't expect the genre to catch on with the country's silver set — or the country, for that matter. "In Japan, I think there’s something of an emotional distance kept from shooting games," he adds. "I get the impression the market isn’t set to grow very large. I also worry that with the increasingly high spec machines required, the playing population will further decrease."

Meanwhile, Kitajima keeps gaming and updating his website regularly with walkthroughs. Anything he's looking forward to? "I’m wondering if a Japanese version of Far Cry 2 is ever coming out..."

78歳、現役FPSプレイヤー「北島さん」にお話を伺ってみました。 [DHARMA POINT via Sankaku Complex]

The Intel QUAKE LIVE Championships

QuakeCon 2008 will mark the debut of the first-ever Intel QUAKE LIVE Championships pro tournament. QUAKE LIVE is id Software’s new game created to deliver the excitement and energy of a first-person multiplayer game to a broader audience through a free and easily accessible browser-based experience. The Intel QUAKE LIVE Championships will feature a classic $12,500 One Versus One tournament along with a $12,500 Capture the Flag Team Tournament.

The Activision Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars Team Championships

Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars™ makes its second annual tournament appearance with the Activision Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars Team Championships. Featuring competitions on both PC and for the first time on Xbox 360, the tournament contests will enlist six-person teams to battle it out in double-elimination bracket-style competitive play, in which each squad will have the chance to attack and defend. On the Windows PC side, 16 teams will compete for $15,000 in prize money and in the Xbox 360 competition, eight teams will vie for $10,000 in prizes.

The Alienware Quick-Draw Challenge

For anyone who’s dreamed of competing for prize money on the QuakeCon main stage, the Alienware Quick-Draw Challenge offers $10,000 in prize money to randomly selected attendees competing in special QUAKE LIVE competitions throughout the course of the event.

In addition to their prize money, the top 2 finalists and teams in each of the above competitive tournament events will also be given tickets to the previously announced “QuakeCon Ultimate Power Up” raffle contest, sponsored by Ventrilo, for the brand new 2008 Corvette. Additional raffle tickets and eligibility will be subject to contest rules.

“QuakeCon 2008 will be the grand slam of competitive gaming with the best games and an amazing prize list,” said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software. “We’ve partnered with our sponsors this year to bring the top competitive players what they want most: skill based games, top money prizes, the most enthusiastic fans and audience and the world’s best Finals party!”

More information, including map names, prize money distribution, detailed format and rules, and sign-ups for both tournaments will be available soon at www.quakecon.org.

QuakeCon Ultimate Power Up Rules:

QuakeCon 2008 registered attendees who are 18 years of age and older AND are legal residents of the United States, its territories and possessions and the District of Columbia are eligible to participate. No purchase necessary. 250 raffle tickets will be distributed throughout the event. Additional information about contest rules, eligibility and requirements will be available at www.quakecon.org.

[Pic]

[via College Humor]

He covers the widespread competitive game scene in Korea, looks into Quake's evolving role in the London game scene, and visits Iceland to see the birthplace of EVE Online, to develop what he says is a story of "how games change the lives of gamers."

I thought the idea of a "travelogue" of game culture was interesting, so I asked Jim a few questions about the book, and his experiences.

How did the book come to be, and why did you want to write it?

Jim Rossignol: It started because of some interest around a feature I wrote on the gaming culture in Korea. PC Gamer UK was commissioning some pretty interesting and aggressive material in 2006, and it came out of that.

I was keen to lay out some of the ideas I'd been collecting in longform - there's only so much you can do when writing disconnected reviews and features. To come up with a wider perspective, and a wider take, on any given subject still requires a book.

What are the ideas that the book deals with, primarily?

JR: It's a book about how games change the lives of gamers. It starts out with a couple of specific cases - my own life and that of some people I know - and moves on to more general instances. The themes the book deal with are pretty diverse - boredom, propaganda, human computation, the nature of games as a medium - but they all tie into the idea that people are changed by gaming, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways.

Can you give a brief example of one of the instances in the story?

JR: Well, one of the more specific instances is the story of a friend of mine who now works in the games industry, but grew up escaping into games as a fairly unhappy child. He's a living instance of the kinds of traits and trends I want to talk about, because he's a person for whom some of the greatest moments in life have been to do with gaming.

Games were a way of escaping boredom and domestic discomfort, but ended up being an incredible life-defining force. He ended up playing Guitar Hero in front of thousands of rock fans at the Donnington Rock Festival in the UK, effectively opening the show for Guns & Roses. (Or so he likes to tell the tale.)

For whom is this book intended, and what kinds of readers do you hope will pick it up?

JR: Well everyone can read it, and will love it, obviously... but in all seriousness, it's an approachable book. Pop documentary, if that's a genre. I suspect there's a way to present any niche subject so that everyone finds it digestible and interesting, and I hope I've done that. It's more like chatty travel literature than dry academia, I feel.

What do you hope people will learn or take away from it?

I hope it helps people to figure out what they really think about video games. I don't want to lecture anyone, just offer some descriptions and examples that might be useful in making up your mind. One of the key tensions in the book is whether video games are fundamentally a waste of time, and what that even means. I'd like to think that both people who don't play games, and the gamers themselves, will find that they're able to discuss the pros and cons of being a habitual gamer a little more fluently once they've read it.

MESQUITE, Texas - April 22, 2008 - As temperatures begin to rise it's time to start planning the ultimate summer vacation to THE must-attend gaming event of the year - QuakeCon 2008. That's right! The world's greatest gaming festival and party will take place July 31 - August 3, 2008 in Dallas, TX at the Hilton Anatole Hotel. As always, this event is FREE to all attendees thanks to the support of the QuakeCon volunteer staff, id Software, the event sponsors and exhibitors.

QuakeCon will once again host North America's largest BYOC
(Bring-Your-Own-Computer) LAN party, as well as an expanded exhibit area
with nearly 60 companies demonstrating their latest products. Of course, it
wouldn't be QuakeCon without highly competitive tournaments for serious cash
and bragging rights, parties, contests, entertainment and announcements.

Registration for the BYOC area will kick off at 9 p.m. ET on April 30, 2008
at HYPERLINK
"file:///C:\\Documents%20and%20Settings\\natalie.edwards\\Local%20Settings\\
Temporary%20Internet%20Files\\OLK79D\\www.quakecon.org"www.quakecon.org.

The Hilton Anatole is now taking room reservations for QuakeCon 2008 through
their custom QuakeCon reservation page at HYPERLINK
"http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/groups/personalized/DFWANHH-QUA-20080726/index.
jhtml"http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/groups/personalized/DFWANHH-QUA-20080726/i
ndex.jhtml or through their toll-free reservations number, 1-800-HILTONS.
To receive the specially negotiated room rate of $137 (single, double,
triple or quad occupancy) and the special daily self-park rate of $5
(regularly $15 per day), you must request the group rate for "QuakeCon 2008"
or book through the link above when making your reservation. The hotel
requires a $50 non-refundable deposit on group reservations, which will be
credited to your final room bill upon check-out. Rooms at this special rate
are limited.

Companies interested in receiving information on sponsorship and exhibitor
opportunities should email HYPERLINK
"mailto:sponsors@quakecon.org"sponsors@quakecon.org.

More exciting details about QuakeCon 2008 will follow. Visit HYPERLINK
"http://www.quakecon.org/"www.quakecon.org to stay on top of the latest
information. Plan your travel, reserve your hotel room and BYOC spot,
practice those gaming skills and prepare to be blown away by another awesome
QuakeCon.

The seven titles we owe it to: Doom, Quake, Tribes, Battlezone, Unreal Tournament, Counterstrike and Battlefield.

If nothing else, at least the past two or three years of FPSes, multi- and single-player, have combined to give us standardized controls, which makes picking up a new title infinitely easier to play — especially when it comes to free looking. It's now pretty much left stick = movement, right stick = head, with no fruity switching of camera angles or other unnecessary twists. Also, Y or triangle is use, B or circle is jump, etc. If you think that's a minor gamer assist, ask yourself the last time you used two different copiers or fax machines with the same set of commands.

Ed also argues that single-player FPSes are constantly delivering great new titles, but multiplayers have been "the same old for quite a few years now." I just can't see it that way. Maybe structurally they are the same, but characters, missions, game story, that's what gets me into an FPS now. True, a new gameplay innovation that's widely adopted will beat the best written game for sales, but I ask you, what else could a multiplayer FPS be doing right now?

How 7 Games Created the Modern Team Multiplayer FPS

Since Steam now supports gift giving, it's going to be the easiest way to add a last minute Christmas gift that's guaranteed to ship on time. You have until January 1st to enjoy the value added fun.

Steam Storewide Sale - All Games 10-50% Off! [Steam]

Don't worry, no one was hurt, including Carmack. He'll still be able to put his typing skills to good use for id's upcoming Rage. You can read all about the harrowing, explosive experience at the official X PRIZE site.

Armadillo Aerospace Nearly Wins Northrop Grumman [X-Prize Foundation]

First Person 3D Engine [ActionScript Architect via The In-Between]

Anyone who completes the download, hit the comments and let us know the size, experience, etc. Because we want details. And we want you to do our job for us. Hit the jump for the full press release.

Download it here

The Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars PC demo is now available from the game's official site: http://www.enemyterritory.com/. Head to the "download demo" tab for a list of local mirrors. You can also view a list of available mirrors at this site:http://community.enemyterritory.com/index.php?q=node/130.

The Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars PC Demo (Multiplayer & Single-Player) comes with the final version of Valley, one of the larger battlegrounds in the game. Set in Yosemite, California, Valley has the Global Defense Force on the attack, as they attempt to foil a Strogg contamination plot centering on a water treatment facility. Valley features a great blend of close quarters infantry action, vehicle battles and aircraft dogfights, and the varied terrain combining mountains, waterways, tunnels and industrial structures allows for many different playing styles. To top it all off, there's a multitude of optional side missions and plenty of opportunities to try out the various defense turrets, artillery and radar deployables - Valley is a prime example of the frantic and diverse action you'll find in Enemy
Territory: QUAKE Wars.

If you want to learn more about Valley, read our Valley Map Guide
(http://community.enemyterritory.com/index.php?q=node/91) for a full run-down of the team objectives, secondary missions and a host of tactical tips for getting the most out of the various GDF and Strogg weapons, items, deployables and vehicles.

The Demo also features ETQW's bots, so you can explore the map and gameplay in single-player mode with computer-controlled opponents...

AMBX FRAGS QUAKECON 2007

Dallas, TX, USA - Philips amBX today unveiled an amBX-enabled multiplayer demonstration of id Software's QUAKE 4, which will be available for both the press and public to play on a dedicated amBX booth at QuakeCon, Dallas, USA, from 2nd to 4th August 2007.

QuakeCon is a free convention held every year in the Dallas area where PC gamers from all over the world make the pilgrimage to play on a giant gaming network in one room together, see the latest technology and compete in world-class tournaments. Volunteer run, QuakeCon is sponsored by id Software, makers of the hugely popular and successful DOOM, QUAKE and Wolfenstein series of games.

Shorthand for 'ambient experiences', amBX revolutionises the gameplay experience by extending the gaming world out of the screen and into the real world. amBX delivers a full 'sensory surround experience' by equipping game developers with a tool box to use light, colour, sound and even air flow through enabled devices, including the Philips amBX PC Gaming Peripherals range of LED colour-controlled lighting capable of representing 16 million different colours, rumble peripherals and variable speed desktop fans.

The Philips amBX team has crafted a mod for QUAKE 4 which, when played with amBX peripherals, will see fans, lights and rumble effects, including 360 degree environmental lighting, form an integral part of the gameplay. Players running and jumping in the game will actually feel the air move around them and the effect of landing and impacts. Weapons will generate custom effects, including surrounding light, rumble shudder and fan blast effects from the rocket launcher. On a more subtle level, rear view lighting is darkened when players use a weapon scope mode, to draw players into the sniper frame of mind. On the receiving end, damage feedback is displayed through a multi directional red light blood splatter and bullet impact vibration. Finally, power and pick ups are represented through different light effects, including a light blue aura for Quad Damage, pulsing red for Regeneration, a fast yellow pulse for Haste, green light for Health and blue light for Mega Health.

"Multiplayer gaming doesn't come any bigger than QUAKE and QuakeCon is our chance to show the world just how awesome FPS multiplayer gaming can really be with amBX," commented Jo Cooke, Chief Marketing Officer, Philips amBX. "Fragging will reach a whole new dimension with light, wind and rumble effects taking in-your-face explosions right out of the gaming screen and into the hall at QuakeCon."

"With thousands of the most enthusiastic gamers from all around the world attending, QuakeCon is a fantastic venue to introduce new game technology, " said Todd Hollenshead, id Software's CEO. "We are excited about having Philips as a new QuakeCon partner this year and seeing attendees duel it out in heads up QUAKE 4 matches enhanced by Philips' exciting new amBX technology. "

The amBX-enabled QUAKE 4 will be in good company as QuakeCon 2007 will be ground zero for never-before-seen gaming competitions, with the first official tournament using id Software's new landmark game, Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars and the first ever "Quad Damage" tournament spanning all four QUAKE games.

Philips is setting a global standard by licensing the amBX technology to computer game developers, publishers and peripherals manufacturers including Codemasters, THQ, Introversion, Gearbox Software, Zombie, Riot Games, Brain in a Jar, Invictus Games, Instinct Technology, Kuju, Revolution, Sumo Digital, Rivers Run Red, Philips Peripherals & Accessories and SpectraVideo.

Philips is currently in the closing stages of agreements with a number of other high profile companies regarding amBX-enabling all kinds of games.