Okay Dokay. You Quake 2 people can now send in your maps for review! So pop over to the Submit Levels page and do so. Please read the instructions on that page! It makes our life a lot easier when it comes to doing the review. I cannot believe how many people just give website addresses and say get it from here or give the incoming dir on cdrom.com. These are useless!!!

More site movements. Bal is now on the BatttleShip Quake along with Michael Daugherty better known as the map author formally known as Jerkoff. Another new site at PQ is Pandemonium. I've seen this site before and it has some excellent artwork there. Now I have to update all the damn download links for the maps. Mumble, mumble, %$^k, R$.f3...

I got a couple of interesting maps in this week which I have been asked to review but I don't think I will because playing then gave me a pretty bad headache. Not to deprive you of them though (hehe), here they are. Moonlight.(348Kb) and The Limbo of Broken Ecstasies.(56Kb). As you may have guessed these maps are really really weird. Below are screenshots of both maps in Quark with the lighting effects turned off so its all in full bright mode (click on them for larger images, full size is 985x738).

YOINK! Screenies removed....

The reason I've taken these pictures is because in Moolight I just got totally lost (Its very dark in and everything looks the same) and for Ecstasies its just because it has some very odd textures in.  If you're feeling adventurous and have some headache tablets with you then go check out the authors website which has the completely sane name of PSYCHO-JOURNEY through Quake 1.

Wanna see some more grade A awful maps? You do! Go here then for a batch of Quake 2 nasties. Whats the grading system about? Seems a tad odd to me.

Now I'm not usually one for pimpage of SP maps for Quake but when you play a map of such a high quality you will understand why. Damaul has recently released Damaul6 - Bestial Devastation (922Kb). If you don't have the Zestorer patch then you will also need to download this file as well (1959Kb). This map is absolutely superb. Heres a couple of screenies of it.

YOINK! Screenies removed....

Due to this map I went and re-downloaded Zestorer. What an excellent mod that is. I remember the levels as if I played them yesterday so they are not much of a challenge as they originally were, but its cool to just trek through it all again. If you're interested go here to download it (thats a UK link).

Theres been a uproar on the conversions of Quake 2 maps to Quake 3 Arena. Most of these conversions have been without the original map authors authorisation and a storm has gone off (rightly so) on sCary's Gigaboard. ztn, escher and frib join in the proceedings basically telling these dum f**ks to stop what they're doing. I'm totally on their side with this. If the author doesn't want his/her work converted then don't do it. I've played some of these conversions and have to say they are just complete turd. Since they are originally Quake 2 maps the scale is completely out of whack and some of tricks used to make the maps work are awful. One prime example is in Aerowalk. The map has a slanted ramp in the main atrium. Well when you walk from the bottom up you are teleported to the top of it. Stupid!

Gibbie has told me to plug the Frogbot. So heres a plug for it, go get Frogbot. Frib and Escher apparently use it, but I'm not very impressed by it. Alot of messing about is required to get the thing going and it certainly will not be replacing the Obots.

Ninja has recently started a new feature on his site called 'Authors'. The idea behind it is to have info on each author (d.o.b, site address etc.) and also to provide a jump point to everyone's websites. So go see how many old gits mappers there are =).

Peej has posted an article on 1-on-1 tips. Well worth a read.

There is a pretty good interview with John Carmack up on Voodoo Extreme. Continuing the id theme the latest issue of Edge has an 8 page article on id. Its about Quake 3 Arena and it has a few details I've not seen anywhere else.

There is a news article up the Arenaline Vault about possible trouble surrounding the completion of a game called Mortyr. I'd read a couple of features on it and it looks pretty cool. Its a 3D shooter set in Germany in World War II. According to the article the game is in a real mess.

King Pin has gone gold! Wahoo! Saw that on Blues and Scary's. Its funny but I no longer visit Redwoods. The page takes too long to load and when I get there the news isn't updated regularly enough. Anyway, Ridah (Ryan Feltrin) updated his .plan file with news about a DM game included in King Pin called Bag Man. Heres what Ridah had to say on it:
If you've been looking for something new to play on-line lately, let me introduce you to "Bag Man". It might sound odd, but it's actually very addictive, and intense. Take CTF, mix it with Mobsters. Stir.

The result, is a game revolving around cash. Both teams have a safe. Somewhere in the center of the map exists a Cash spawning location (counterfitting machine outlet, if you must..). The object being, to collect as much cash as possible, then return to your base and lock it in the safe.

But, as the game progresses, it becomes highly rewarding to steal from the enemy safe, hence the term "Bag Man". Anyone that has stolen from the enemy safe, has a big sack over their shoulder, and can be carrying up to $200 in the sack, plus whatever cash they've put in their pockets (picked up along the way). This makes them prime targets for the enemy, and highly valuable friends.

At the end of the game, the team with the most Cash wins. Simple as that.
As soon as I see King Pin in the shops I'm gonna nab myself a copy.