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Games Entertainment

Return to Castle Wolfenstein Ships 334

Posted by chrisd from the actung!-mien-lieber! dept.
Screaming Lunatic writes "Woohoo, Return to Castle Wolfenstein has finally shipped. Check this story out at Yahoo. You should be able to buy it at the regular gaming shops. I highly recommend buying it rather than hacking it, as noted in Graeme Devines .plan file." CD: I am seriously flashing back to the Apple II game with a similar name, hope this doesn't suck like daikatana.
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Return to Castle Wolfenstein Ships More

Return to Castle Wolfenstein Ships

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  • Man, I'm surprised how long this took to hit /.

    Well, I've been playing the demo for two weeks and IT ABSOFRIKKENLUTELY ROCKS.

    • Re:Wolf3d =^) (Score:2, Interesting)

      by neafevoc ( 93684 )
      I actually picked it up yesterday right before class.

      The guy at Software Etc was still unpacking the boxes.

      I'll confess, I never bought a single PC game in my life. And after playing the tests, I was already sold. (I remember playing Wolf3D, becoming unbelievably sick not more than 10 minutes.)

      I had a shoddy G400 Marvel (for games? yeah right.) I went out and bought an MX400 card just for Wolf. (But I wish I had some kind of GF3... 'cause the game is simply stunning.)

      So the game itself. The single player and multi-player are literally two different games. If you've played the test, and though mp_beach was huge... yeah right. I think that's the smallest map in the game.

      I'm finishing up mission 2 for the single player mode. I don't know what to compare it against since I haven't played the likes of Half-Life or any other story based FPS.

      I think it's too awesome though.

      Sorry for being vague... but those who have played other FPS and RtCW... could you enlighten me if this 1 player story mode is ground breaking?

      Seems like it to me. (Oh, I have played GoldenEye and Perfect Dark on console... but I can't compare it... since the control on the computer is so much easier.)

  • I don't envy the developers (Score:4, Interesting)

    by rcs1000 ( 462363 ) <<moc.liamg> <ta> <0001scr>> on Wednesday November 21, 2001 @10:50PM (#2599113)
    It must be really hard producing a sequel of such a classic game after such a long period. They will be judged against people's rose tinted rememberances of the original Wolfenstein 3D. And no matter how good it is, people will say 'Ahhh I enjoyed the original more.'

    It's also hard, because the FPS genre is not new anymore. Can RTCW be a better game than Deus Ex or Counterstike? Maybe. But whatever it is it will be hard for it to be revolutionary.

    That said, I'm sure I'll buy it as soon as it hits the shops. Just as soon as I finish Civ 3 that is!

    *r

    • On the other hand... (Score:1, Flamebait)

      by kypper ( 446750 )
      If you'll play Civ3 with it's Kenny G style music, you'll do fine with Wolfenstein 3D and ID software's GREAT music history. (NIN? Rob Zombie? I LOVE ID)
      • I'll be honest with you: I play Civ with my music. But I love iD. I've been playing their games (Commander Keen, anyone) for such a long time I feel like they're a part of my life.

        Just don't tell my girlfriend: she thinks I'm working.

    • Wolfenstein 3D was NOT the original! (Score:4, Informative)

      by Myriad ( 89793 ) <myriad@the[ ]d.com ['bso' in gap]> on Wednesday November 21, 2001 @11:31PM (#2599229) Homepage
      It must be really hard producing a sequel of such a classic game after such a long period. They will be judged against people's rose tinted rememberances of the original Wolfenstein 3D. And no matter how good it is, people will say 'Ahhh I enjoyed the original more.'

      Uhm, hold on a sec, perhaps it was before your day but Wolfenstein 3D was NOT the original! The original was "Castle Wolfenstein" for the Apple (not Macintosh here, we're talking Apple II IIc kind of Apple).

      Check the link [classicgaming.com] from the front page to see what the real Castle Wolfenstein looked like.

      Man, I loved that game... :)

    • I played the MP demo/beta version, and I must say that gamers can look forward to becoming isolated, unshaven caffine junkies (if not already). The game is true to the orignal in the most important area--replay value. Entertainment doesn't have to be ground-breaking to be great, just immersive IMHO. Just hope santa brings me better moniter before I go blind.

    • Little old Ladies (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Alien54 ( 180860 )
      I can remember in a retail store from a long time ago a little old lady who was addicted to Wolfenstein. She loved it, and apparently was quite good at it.

      This would be at least one of several classic scenes for a movie someday. The grandma teaching kids how to play doom. or is the local champion, or something. classic

    • They will be judged against people's rose tinted rememberances of the original Wolfenstein 3D. And no matter how good it is, people will say 'Ahhh I enjoyed the original more.'

      Are you sure? From the trailer [wolfensteinx.com] and the multiplayer preview [wolfensteinx.com] it looks awesome - check the realistic explosion on the building, the physics of the soldiers flying in with parachutes, and, or course, the flamethrower, which I think I'll probably remeber as much as the first time I heard `meinleiven' (or whatever) come out of the shiny new SoundBlaster 2.0

      It will also be one of the first single player focused 3D shooters to be released on the Linux platform for ages (depending on whether or not Heavy Metal FAKK 2 makes its way to the shelves quicker or not). Rune and Heretic were third person, and Q3 and UT were multiplayer focused. This has me salivating for a good single player FPS - they're a lot more atmospheric than multi or third person games.

      And of course, the obligatory reminder that you all should buy it from Tux Games [tuxgames.com] (for all you Yanks), Everything Linux [everythinglinux.com.au] or wherever else will ship with the Linux binaries to show your support for your OS of choice ...
      • And no matter how good it is, people will say 'Ahhh I enjoyed the original more.'

        Are you sure? From the trailer [wolfensteinx.com] and the multiplayer preview [wolfensteinx.com] it looks awesome - check the realistic explosion on the building, the physics of the soldiers flying in with parachutes, and, or course, the flamethrower

        All of which are completely irrelevant. They're just eye candy, and while they may look great, it's the gameplay that will determine whether it's better than the original or not. If you look at some of the greatest games of all time (e.g., Tetris, Angband, Doom, Hybris, Galaga) they may not have realistic explosions, or accurate physics models, but what all of them have, in buckets, is amazing gameplay. Compare Quake and Doom. Quake had far, far better eye candy, but Doom was the better and more playable game.

  • I think most /.ers will agree that the multiplayer test map was very promising. I heard complaints about the "mod-ness" of the game play but really feel that the graphics are well put together. And from what I understand, the single player action is even more promising. Cross-site link me to the Geek Wish list. This is definitely on it.
  • I didn't know the Apple ][e game was in colour! I only played it in monochrome green.
  • I played the old dos game a long time ago. That rocked. I can just imagine it now...

    • Re:Wolfie 3d (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      In the good old days we never had anything like those newfangled things like controllers or keyboards or screens!

      The CPU was actually just a tree trunk with bits of string attached! The screen refreshed at 2 frames a minute because we had to wait for someone to rake the sand pit dry and redraw it with a twig!

      And real gamers, my goodness they were real! They didn't sit down to play dang-nabbit, they hung upside down from the ceiling with their eyes closed and they always chewed gravel to help them concentrate!

      You young people, you're too spoiled and you dont appreciate how hard it used to be *mumble* *mumble* *froth at mouth* *collapse*

  • mini review... minimal requirements...overall feel (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Cosmic Cow ( 537462 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2001 @10:57PM (#2599139)
    For those of you who are wondering the minimal requirements, it works fine here on both my Tiger K7 and my trusty old BP6 with 366Mhz celeron and geforce2MX 400, I can play at 1024x768 with compressed textures, high details, but I've putted the display to 16bits (anyways, it's not like you'd notice a big difference from 16 to 32 in a fast-paced game). It's smooth, it rocks...

    Of course if you're planning on joining a 40 people server you might want a bigger cpu than a Celeron 366mhz :) but for single player and 10-20 people it works okay... worse case scenario, you reduce the resolution from a notch.

    As for the graphics, it's about like Q3A (same engine) but there are a lot of visible changes, one that you will notice right away is the details on the characters, and also all the motion, probably John will step in and talk about some of the aspects of the design, it looks like motion capture applied to the characters. The graphics aren't a big step up like from quake 1 to quake 3, but the overall mood and gameplay is really good. When I first played the demo, I thought that game would really suck because of the respawn time and the choice of weapons, but when you get to know it and get a well-balanced team that knows how to play, the level, and use special habilities like medic, or engineers defusing,etc.. it's really starting to get addictive. So to anyone who didn't like the test, do like I did, play it a bit more, and if you like the quake style and the RTS style, wolf is a good balance of both.

    The single player is good, when I read the interviews, I was expecting a "max payne"-like story line in between each level, it's not as good, but the mood is really there and the levels are really nice. Like I said, it's not a Revolution, but it's an evolution. It's worth to buy if you're into that kind of games.

    Hope this is useful to anyone out there :)
    • I've only played the multiplayer demo (both versions so far) and haven't gotten the full release game yet. It ran pretty well on my 900MHz Athlon w/ a GeForce DDR card in Win2k. I remember reading in some preview articles that RTC Wolfenstein was supposed to tax systems pretty well, but I haven't observed this yet. I've only had slowdowns with the demo when leiutenants throw airstrikes, the explosions do hell on my system.

      Although, the characters are supposed to be much more detailed in the full version, especially in single-player mode--I'm assuming that they may leave character models less complex for multiplayer mode for better performance, although I can't confirm this yet.

      But overall, it looks like it'll perform pretty well. And there's always the details settings to adjust for slower systems. I know one game that'll really spank all current systems will be Doom 3. :P

  • Patch (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Remember folks ... this a computer game. And games get no QA.

    So it isn't worth rushing out to buy and install it. Before you're half way through, the first patch will be released and your savegames will be rendered useless.

    Wait for the inevitable 1.1

    • Re:Patch (Score:4, Funny)

      by Anonymous DWord ( 466154 ) on Thursday November 22, 2001 @12:12AM (#2599328) Homepage
      Before I'm halfway through? Hah! Not the way I play! Man, you've never seen moves like these- super-backspin-kicking-slash-shoot attacks! Bang ka-POW! Of course, with my luck, the first patch will screw with all the timing settings and my descending laser bullet of CERTAINDEATH will miss horribly, thus deciding my fate before I've even had a chance to say goodbye to my loved ones.

      Damn, I love FPS.
  • I remember playing Return to Wolfenstein on the Atari. Kickin game... 80x40 resolution, more in depth, and harder without being impossible.
  • ok, so the demo ran fine under wine(x)... anyone know if the full version does?

    • Re:linux (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Afrosheen ( 42464 )
      Why the hell would you need winex? There have been linux clients all along...and they're going to rellease a full version linux client soon.
  • Saw it on some of the darker corners of usenet today - incomplete of course.

    Sigh...wonder if the final release will lock up my machine like the tests :(
  • Saw a copy of this at Electronics Boutique last night.

  • Interview with kevin Cloud @ homeland.com (Score:4, Informative)

    by Cosmic Cow ( 537462 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2001 @11:07PM (#2599169)
    For those of you that might find this interresting, there's an article on homeland.com with id co-founder and artist Kevin Cloud, who was the main coordinator at the company for the game's development, to find out about their expectations for the game and what might be next for the Wolfenstein franchise. [homelanfed.com]

    Happy Reading.

    • Excellent linkage, dude.

      Kevin Cloud pays hommage to Activision.

      IMO, Activision has kicked ass since the Atari days; Atlantis and Subterranea (damn addictive game) up to and including MechWarrior (any version). (even that jungle/Indiana Jones type game...what was it? I forget)

      Correct me if I am incorrect, but don't they work close with Interplay? I saw a mention of Descent and damn that brings back memories.

      Descent was revolutionary, period.
      Game play was fast and furious, the robot/monster AI was (and still is) fscking phenominal.
      Don't take this wrong, but all DooM's monsters did was attack, attack, attack....Descent 1, and especially, D2...the would bait, stalk, gang up, retreat and hunt your ass down.

      That was totally *mind blowing*! And the first one had in the FAQ, a section called DooM Recovery 101 because it was true 3d before/during the time of Quake's introduction.
      (set me straight on a timeline, it is fuzzy after all these years)

      Uhhh...ahem...sorry about that "rabid fan'ish" sounding diatribe...
      What I am trying to nail down to a fine point is:
      All of these games are/were revolutionay, in their own right.

      Wolf was there "first" FPS wise, DooM made it "immersive" and Quake made it "inpressive" in several areas. But the one common thread was the "enemies" were not that bright.
      What I am saying is if Activision had a hand in it, like I think they did with Descent, RTCW is almost going to be a guranteed winner.

      Just my thoughts, opinions, experience and observations.

      Cheers,

      GISboy
  • I can't wait to play. The flame thrower is a wicked weapon, but Kingpin did it first to my knowledge.

    Kingpin is easy to describe: Imagine Q2, heavily modified to be more visual than Q3, more violent and "realistic" than any game I can think of off the top of my head.

    RTCW looks about the same as Kingpin, in some respects, but takes it one step further.

    Can I hear a "Mein Leibin!" (I think that is how it's spelled).

    Is it too late to recommend this for the "Geek Gifts" catagory...I want it!

    • Re:Flame throwers, right on. (Score:5, Informative)

      by denzo ( 113290 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2001 @11:15PM (#2599191)
      I can't wait to play. The flame thrower is a wicked weapon, but Kingpin did it first to my knowledge.
      Actually, there was a flame-thrower Blood (and Blood 2?). There was also a flame-thrower in the Mac version of Wolfenstein 3D (so it's really the second time it's appeared in a Wolfenstein game). Not quite the same fancy effects as in RTC Wolfenstein or Kingpin, but... ;)

      Can I hear a "Mein Leibin!" (I think that is how it's spelled).
      It's "mein leben," which means "my life" (i.e., my life is leaving me).
      • Someone remembers the joys of Blood 1 besides me?

        I thought there wern't THAT many of us left. I had the game at some point and loved it.. played mplayer with it ALL the time. Then I got used to Quakemultiplayer and gave up blood for a while. Got the itch for it last year and couldnt find where I had placed it so I went and bought another copy.

        Blood didnt have a true 3d engine like quake did but for single player Blood was SSOO much better. If you listen carefully you can still hear the wise cracking caleb and the cheesy showtunes. . .

        BTW: in blood it was a "hairspray can" and a match.. not a true "flame thrower" but operated in the same way. Still good.

    • Re:Flame throwers, right on. (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      What about... RISE OF THE TRIADS!?!?!!!?

      As far as I know, there were more different ways to incinerate your enimies than any other FPS out there :)

      Hehe.. does anybody remember the bounce pads? 'Hand of god'? ''shrooms mode'?!?!?!?!
      click here for a review [mobygames.com]

      At the time, was there anything even remotely as funny?
  • well, this is certainly a cool game and i'm glad to see it finally hit shelves but if you would like to see some bleeding edge rendering techniques in the field of real-time graphics then go check out the ATI launch demos [ati.com]. these demos were just posted today (a few hours ago i think). you will need a Radeon8500 to run the demos. personally i find the nature demo to be the most interesting, the water looks comparable to what you might see in a pre-rendered sequence. also, the skin in the rachel demo (rendering nice looking skin is a classic computer graphics problem) looks pretty close to what you might see in the final fantasy film... except at real-time frame rates. of course my opinion is more than a bit biased. :)
  • Was there not a Linux demo of this before? I seem to remember playing it... Did id drop it?
    • I've been wondering the same thing about a Linux version. I played the Deamo and it was fairly cool. And i know there was a Macversion, so where is the Linux version fo the Game?

    • Re:Linux version? (Score:5, Informative)

      by geekd ( 14774 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2001 @11:51PM (#2599277) Homepage
      The linux version of the multi-player test 1 (there is no "demo" yet. When people say "demo" they mean the mp-test) came out a week after the windows version.

      The linux version of the mp-test 2 came out the day after the windows version.

      Here is a section of Todd Hollenshead's .plan [shacknews.com] file that refers to the linux version of the final game:


      No date yet on the Mac version, but it's coming soon (not gold yet,
      though). We don't have plans to sell Linux in retail, but Timothee
      has done great work on the downloadable binaries so far, and I expect
      that to continue.


      So there ya go.

      I have been looking, but I see no final linux version yet. But it's been just 1 day. I just hope that Timothee isn't on vacation or something, because the tin box is sitting right here just waiting to get installed... (Timo: hint hint) :-)

      -geekd

  • Return to Castle Wolfenstein & Graeme Devine (Score:4, Informative)

    by Kreeblah ( 95092 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2001 @11:16PM (#2599192)
    Hmmm. I just saw this at my local BestBuy today. And here I thought I simply missed the release announcement on Slashdot . . .

    Regarding the CD key banning, there's something I'd like to point out: what happens if you buy a copy of RtCW and the CD key that you get has already been blacklisted? Say someone uses a keygen. Keygens come up with apparently valid keys which can be used to install software/etc. However, the same CD key could very well also be sitting in a box on a store shelf somewhere. This happened to a friend of mine with Diablo II (although they do not blacklist keys; he just couldn't log on because of it), and Blizzard killed the other guy's account (seems justified . . .). However, suppose the keygen has produced a key that has been posted on the Internet and shared. I doubt that id would just say, "Oh, that's yours? Well, we'll just take it off of the list of banned keys." Hopefully, the customer could fax a copy of a receipt or something and get a new key mailed if this was to happen.

    On a side note, I'm surprised at the note that Graeme Devine had something to do with this. Last I heard of him was in the interview at the end of the 11th Hour strategy guide. Good luck Mr. Devine, wherever you are.
    • AFAIK, it's impossible to generate a real key that works online. Your key is verified at id's master server when you try to join a server. You may generate a valid key (56bit des) when you play single player, but it's not gonna fly online. Do some research on Quake3 being 'cracked' if you want proof. Q3 online was uncrackable, as is RTCW.

  • A good review (Score:2, Informative)

    by Torinaga-Sama ( 189890 )
    I found a link to a pretty good review of RtCW while scanning Fark today.

    http://www.newsgeek.net/article.php?sid=964&mode=& order=0 [newsgeek.net]

    If the Multiplayer is as cool as this guy thinks it is I could be digging myself out of my two year deep Counter-Strike rut. :-) It is really not breaking new ground with different player classes and objectives but I think it is the first big name game (read: going to get a boatload of press) that incorporates objectives into the shoot and slash multiplayer scene.

    I didn't do the multiplayer test. Does anyone else have any input on how cool/lame it is?
  • The Game rocks!!!! I bought it yesterday. The single player is better than average(good story, graphics and gameplay) but the multiplayer is the best out there. Combining the best parts of Team Fortress Classic(characterization and strategy) with Plot and Objectives. Plus smooth play, cool weapons and Huge maps!!!!!!!! Definatly worth the more than average new game price in my opinion.
  • Does anyone else here @ /. get all misty-eyed when remembering best of the first FPS', Wolfenstein, Doom, Heretic, ROTT, Descent... oh the number of hours wasted at college, at home, at work.. er.

    With the newest set of games showing up, with T&L and 100's of voices and polygons coming out the wazoo, does anyone but me still fire up Descent or ROTT just to get some serious thrills and log absolutely mindless, continuous fragging time...?

    Are there any /.ers out there rewriting some of those classics with the same gameplay, but all the newest features.

    I don't need my Descent missions to be more complex, I just want them to have 21st century graphics!

    • First of the Genre: Ultima Underworld (Score:4, Informative)

      by dido ( 9125 ) <dido&imperium,ph> on Thursday November 22, 2001 @12:01AM (#2599301)

      The first real first-person-shooter game (sort of), would rightly be Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss. I think it would be the game that started the FPS revolution, except that Wolfenstein 3D and later, DOOM, brought the revolution into full gear.

      • no no no. Think back to 1990, with Day of the Viper from Accolade.

        Kicked butt running on my Tandy 1000HX with 640KB, and the three voice setup did a good job of emulating Adlib, so I had sound too!
        I still have the (mostly worn out) 720KB floppy, and I've got the 1000HX w/ CGA monitor...

        That's why my first post said: "best of the first"... not "very first", but I agree with you as far as the timing of games go, UUTSA might have been up there were it not for the likes of W3D and DOOM...

        • Well, from what I remember, the boys at Id Software saw Ultima Underworld and that was what inspired them to create their ground-breaking game (can't remember where I heard this story though). They did Origin one better with W3D of course, giving pure action as opposed to the somewhat more complex role-playing that was always (well, almost always anyway [uo.com]) the hallmark of the Ultima games, so perhaps it's not quite so right to consider UUTSA as an FPS game, even though it arguably it inspired that genre.

      • The first FSP was "Midi Maze" on the Atari ST. Up to 15 machines networked via midi cables. Each person was represented by a 3D smiley face - running around (well, floating) in a maze. It included a map editor too.
      • Hmm I always thought 3D Monster Maze on the ZX80 was the orignal FPS....and that was in 1980 or 1981.

        It may have been in black & white but it was a 3D FPS for sure, I'm sure it must have inspired someone out there ;)
      • I would *LOVE* to have ultima underworld redone with today's technology. Although READING what the characters were saying instead of listening was definitely cool. I'd love to see that game with q3's engine, though!

  • Wolfenstein 3D was not the First... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Myriad ( 89793 ) <myriad@the[ ]d.com ['bso' in gap]> on Wednesday November 21, 2001 @11:52PM (#2599279) Homepage
    A lot of people seem to think Wolfenstein 3D was the game that started it all... well, maybe in terms of FPS, but not the start of the Wolfenstein series.

    The first was Castle Wolfenstein [jollyrogers.com], a great old game originally for the Apple computer (as in II, II+, IIc kind of thing, not Mac).

    For those looking to re-live the past, a copy is available here [fileplanet.com].



    • A lot of people seem to think Wolfenstein 3D was the game that started it all... well, maybe in terms of FPS, but not the start of the Wolfenstein series.


      Castle Wolfenstein had some interesting aspects. Use of a software voice synthesizer was pretty cool, if a bit rough. Wolfenstein II added some additional stealth aspects (sneak up on a guard and knife him, find a secluded spot to reset that damn briefcase charge, etc). Both cool games. Of course - I always had a hard time seeing those two classics as linked with Wolfenstein 3D in any other way but name.


      The first was Castle Wolfenstein [jollyrogers.com], a great old game originally for the Apple computer (as in II, II+, IIc kind of thing, not Mac).


      AND for the Commodore 64 (C=64) too! :)
      • Use of a software voice synthesizer was pretty cool, if a bit rough.

        It was digitized, actually... didn't sound all that great coming out of the one-bit Apple II speaker, but it was cool back then :)

        Anyone know what it actually said? I didn't know German back then, and I still don't. I always assumed it was something like "Stop! Come here!" (sounded something like "Halt! Kommen sie!" but apparently that's not proper German :)



        • Anyone know what it actually said? I didn't know German back then, and I still don't. I always assumed it was something like "Stop! Come here!" (sounded something like "Halt! Kommen sie!" but apparently that's not proper German :)


          I seem to remember something like that when you were spotted. The one that I remember well was "kaput" when you were captured and the game was over. :)


          There's some nice screen shots and audio saples at this [wolf3d.co.uk] site. Although, they mention the C=64 and Atari 800 but neglect to mention any Apple machines of the era (heck - I didn't remember an Atari version).

        • I played the original quite a bit on the Apple ][ + and recall the Nazis saying (really more like barking):

          • "Halt!" ("stop!")
          • "Ko-pen zee!" ("come here!")
          • "daus pass?" ("your pass?")
          • "Heil! ("I, too, am a feeble-minded sheep")
          • "S.S.!!!" ("Hi, I am a S.S. Stormtrooper and am about to get medieval on your ass!")
          • "Kaput!" ("game over man, game over...")

          I don't recall if they added more sayings in the sequel Beyond Castle Wolfenstein...

          Castle Wolfenstein
          written by Silas Warner
          Muse Software

          • You forgot:

            "Kamarade" ("I surrender")

            Disclaimer: I don't know German, but I remember the soldiers in Wolfenstein would say this when you stick them up.

            Remember the AI of Wolfenstein? If you keep your pistol hidden and then pull it out when you are right next to a soldier or even an SS, the enemy would raise his hands and let you search him.

            After which you shot him. Or used the knife in BCW.

            Bye the way, Castle Wolfenstein for the Apple ][ was the FIRST computer game I ever bought. And it was still one of the most playable. Except for Three Mile Island. Now that game was a bitch.

  • On CD keys, etc. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Alpha State ( 89105 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2001 @11:58PM (#2599293) Homepage

    I can't be the only one here who uses cracks of my favourite games (that I've already bought) just to avoid having to swap CDs all the time. In fact I have a laptop without CD drive and this is the only way I can run games on it.

    The CD-key is similarly annoying. I can see the point if they are going to check for online gaming, but why do they insist on needing it for single player games? (I rarely game online at all) Even for online gaming, they can only block 2 people trying to connect to the same gameserver with the same key - they could do this just by storing a serial number that the game uses on each CD, avoiding the silly mistake-prone key typing.

    I can't understand why they keep using these methods of "copy protection", when they obviously don't work and the games sell huge amounts (the good ones anyway).

    (BTW, I'm sure the game is great, I can't wait to relive the glory days of SS impersonating and grenade throwing I used to have in school.)

    • Re:On CD keys, etc. (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      You don't need the CD to play single player or multiplayer on a LAN. You need the CD key to install the game and to play online.

    • Re:On CD keys, etc. (Score:3, Informative)

      by xyzzy ( 10685 )
      The CD keys are only used in multiplayer games, and they don't authenticate with the server you are connecting to, but with a master server that ID maintains -- else, how could they run a blacklist of banned keys?

      You should still be able to play single player w/o the CD.

    • Re:On CD keys, etc. (Score:2, Informative)

      by Stormie ( 708 )

      they could do this just by storing a serial number that the game uses on each CD, avoiding the silly mistake-prone key typing.

      Dude, CDs are mass produced. That means they have to all be the same. That's why the keycode is always on a little sticker stuck onto the box.

    • Re:On CD keys, etc. (Score:2, Informative)

      by fiftyfly ( 516990 )
      "storing a serial number that the game uses on each CD" Beacuse this only works is each serial is unique, which means each cd would have to be unique, wich is, of course ridiculous.

    • Re:On CD keys, etc. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by loosenut ( 116184 ) on Thursday November 22, 2001 @06:20AM (#2599945) Homepage Journal
      The CD-key is similarly annoying. I can see the point if they are going to check for online gaming, but why do they insist on needing it for single player games? (I rarely game online at all) Even for online gaming, they can only block 2 people trying to connect to the same gameserver with the same key - they could do this just by storing a serial number that the game uses on each CD, avoiding the silly mistake-prone key typing.

      Once the game is installed, it shouldn't bother you. It's a single, one-time key entry, and any mistakes you make typing it in will be picked up immediately. It also seems lot easier to have a CD-key than it is to produce serial numbers for CDs. I could be wrong, but I thought they were all exact copies. Otherwise CDDB would be ineffective, wouldn't it?

      It is also a very effective form of copy protection. Normally, I wouldn't have a problem letting friends copy my game. But, now, if they want a copy, they need a key. They could either randomly generate one with a keygen (and risk screwing someone else over) or use mine, in which case we wouldn't be able to play together, or even on different servers at the same time. The readme says that the keys are checked with a master server.

      And that's what makes it such great copy protection. You don't need the CD once the game is installed, and you can copy it easily enough. But you won't risk losing functionality!

      Allow me to post a portion of the readme:

      Some Common Sense About Your CD Key: It's important to remember
      that your CD Key is unique. No other copy of the game will have
      that key code. You need to treat that code as something valuable -
      protecting it from loss or theft. Without it, you cannot
      reinstall the game, or play on-line. You may not be able to
      replace the key without some difficulty and expense. Think carefully
      about allowing someone to borrow your CD Key. The Return to Castle
      Wolfenstein Multiplayer Master Server will not allow duplicate
      keys on-line at the same time. Don't be fooled by claims about CD
      Key generators. Not only do they not work, but many "create"
      additional CD Keys by stealing and transmitting the keys of gamers
      who try to make new keys.

      [pirate voice] I'm sooooooo scaaaaarred!

  • CDKey (Score:3, Funny)

    by Ndog ( 230982 ) on Thursday November 22, 2001 @12:16AM (#2599338)

    From the link about CDkeys:


    Wolf uses the same cdkey generation technology as Q3A. THERE HAS NOT BEEN ONE SINGLE HACK on this system. Many so-called cdkey generators are in fact virus attacks that steal your own good cdkey, or worse, corrupt your files.

    So, I don't have a CDKey and download a CDKey generator to get one, and it is actually a virus attack to steal my good cdkey? Does this seem like a stupid statement to anybody else, or if it is true, don't the CDKey authors seem stupid? Who would write CDKey generators to steal CDKeys, when most of the people who try to use them want them because they don't want a CDKey? Am I missing something?

  • Linux gamers (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Ender Ryan ( 79406 ) <TOKYO minus city> on Thursday November 22, 2001 @12:33AM (#2599381) Journal
    For all you Linux gamers, I know you're out there, hopefully in a couple days or weeks or so a Linux binary will be released. When it's released, Tux Games will sell the game with an extra CD with the Linux binaries on it.

    If you care about the future of Linux gaming, please, please wait and buy it from Tux Games. If you buy it from your local Best Buy or whatever, if just looks like another Windows sale, but if you buy from Tux Games they will see that it was sold from a Linux games retailer.

  • My comments (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Sludge ( 1234 ) <slashdot@NosPaM.tossed.org> on Thursday November 22, 2001 @12:52AM (#2599413) Homepage
    Well, I got the game yesterday, and played it until 5 am. I then woke up and played it until around now. I'm on mission five, the snowy terrain map. (Note: I go through games very slowly and never miss a nook or cranny. I annoy myself, but I cannot help it.)

    Things that are good:

    • Anywhere where there is fire, the game is damned beautiful.
    • The ghouls and ghosts part of the game is tastefully done, and well integrated so far. I was disappointed when I read that they were going to put this in, but it's been the most intense part of the game yet.
    • The stealth mission was a lot of fun. I enjoy killing things before they're aware of my existance. I am personally guessing that there is a routine in the player code that gives them more health when they spot you. The game seems to really encourage killing things while they're still unaware of your existance.
    • It uses the Quake 3 engine which means it's familiar, works well and is portable.
    • Lots of good textures. A lot of games ship with only decent textures. This game comes close to the texture art in Q3 at points, which is the best out there, in my opinion.
    • I think those are authentic Nazi propaganda posters on the walls, that have been scanned and put into the game. Right on!
    • The artificial intelligence is really quite good. You can still break it down into different methods in your head, and learn how to react to each mode of attack/defense the AI takes on, but it still manages to deservingly sap your health.

    Bad Stuff:

    • The developers seem indifferent to putting corridors with lots of doors and gray walls in their game. This makes the first couple of missions VERY stock FPS. In fact, I was downright bored playing at first. It picked up later, but has started to waver again.
    • The Nazis speak english, and only english. I want German with subtitles. Talk about an atmosphere reduction.
    • You can't kill civilians. To me, this is annoying because of the principal at play here: The game has probably been toned down in an attempt to obtain a softer rating.
    • Same principal as above, I have yet to encounter any dogs!
    • Enemies don't twitch when they're shot with a machine gun. You'd be surprised at how much satisfaction this takes away when blowing up round after round of bad guys.

    Now, for the comparison: Halflife versus Return To Castle Wolfenstein. What if RTCW came out the same day as Half-Life? I would be VERY impressed with the image quality in RTCW over Half Life and the high res textures would be amazing. However, I would still choose Half Life as a better single player game, because the variety of monsters is what made that game so amazing. RTCW seems to have some surprises in store for me, but nothing too exciting yet.

    As of the first four missions (each containing four levels) of the game, I would rate this game 7/10. It's a good FPS, but it borrows more ideas from the genre than it gives back to it.

    • I've been playing the multiplayer test 2 a lot lately, but I'll wait for the linux binaries to show up before buying it (even if I have money before then :). I think they grey walls with dark metal doors are part of the atmosphere - they didn't spray-paint thinks neon colors to raise the morale, and it would be unrealistic running through a German bunker that looks like a kid's TV show. Of course, if they overuse that throughout the whole game it could get a bit tiring.
    • Oh yeah, text hanging in your view. That makes it so much more lifelike!

      The only reason that argument even begins to make sense when the Anime nuts use it is because they dub OVER the original voices with no-name voice actors. Here, the English was the original.

      This is really a lot more realistic. BJ (the main character) can speak German, so this is what it would feel like to be him, hearing the guards talk and understanding them.

    • Killing Tip (Score:3, Informative)

      by archveult ( 156867 )
      I am personally guessing that there is a routine in the player code that gives them more health when they spot you. The game seems to really encourage killing things while they're still unaware of your existance.

      From my experiences with the multiplayer test, I observed you inflict more damage whenever your target has his back to you. Even if you aren't taking care to be quiet, if you run up behind someone with a knife you can cut them down in one or two shots from full health. Compare that to half a dozen or so required if you strike them from the front. My most often used multiplayer tricks, therefore, are to (1) hide around a corner and wait for enemies to run past you, exposing their back, and (2) never flee with your back to the enemy.

    • Heck, the original [sial.org] had subtitles in it.

      And the original was in German, too-- "Aus Pass!" and a gun usually learned one which button to hit...

  • (cut and paste from my site)

    Well I just got the game and let me say I am impressed. The graphics in the game are phenomenal - similar to the multiplayer test but with a lot more details. There are cobwebs on archways, skeletons bones littering the floors, and characters even blink when giving a speech talking. The nice thing is that game has little details that didn't have to be added, but were. The so far plot is interesting and easy to get into.

    Gameplay is balanced and fun. It feels like a cross between Halflife and the Wolfenstein levels from Doom. I just started and have already observed a few interesting features.

    I fought my way into a room with a wooden floor. Some of the floorboards were missing and you could see under you. Unfortunately, the nazis could also see up. They let loose and opened fire as wooden chips started flying. When they shot the right place, part of the floorboards just shattered! It seems like a small touch, but it was very impressive to look at. In my opinion its the small things that can help make the videogame.

    So far, from my first impression the game gets an A+. A more detailed review will be given in about a week when I have played the game further.

  • Activation key (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Old Wolf ( 56093 ) on Thursday November 22, 2001 @01:59AM (#2599552)
    Why does nobody object to iD maintaining an internet database of activation keys, but all get up in arms with Microsoft does it?
    • Because AFAIK RTCW collects serial numbers and IP addresses and it's only a game that won't work in multiplayer online (will work single player and maybe on a LAN).

      Microsoft hashes your entire system and it is production software (Office, Windows) that quits working completely if you do not re-register in time.

      The comparison is like comparing your cell phone dying to your artificial heart.

  • ATI driver support? (Score:5, Funny)

    by statusbar ( 314703 ) <jeffk@statusbar.com> on Thursday November 22, 2001 @02:33AM (#2599626) Homepage Journal
    Remember to rename the exe file to 'quake.exe' to squeeze out a better frame rate!

    --jeff
  • Disregarding the individual stages or parts to each mission, is there a full count of all the missions? I'm on 4 now, and I'm hoping it goes much, much higher... :)

    So far so good, the only downside is that I got shafted by Electronics Boutique on the price, but when you're individual demand is high, and price is inelastic, well, you're willing to pay $59.99.

    At any rate, at least the game runs without the need for a no-CD crack. All this business of CD keys seems rediculous to me. Companies are trying to protect themselves from rampant piracy. How many times do you install the game that typing a CD key is so incredibly painful? I mean, you did buy the game right?

    On a more personal note, I'm enjoying RTCW so far. The view bob is making me a bit sick (which is unusual) but that usually means I'm really into the game. It also means I lose track of time and play until 2 AM when I have work the next day. But the animation is very nice, and the graphics are visually appealing (although not "revolutionary"). But best of all I get to kill hordes of evil Nazis. It really doesn't get better than that, and it never gets old either.

    I'm looking forward to Medal Of Honor as well.

    And for any Gray Matter employees reading this: Great work! I hope to see some new multiplayer map packs soon!

  • Micro-walkthrough - secrets for first level (Score:3, Informative)

    by wfmcwalter ( 124904 ) on Thursday November 22, 2001 @03:03AM (#2599674) Homepage
    I put a page up with screenshots and all seven secrets for the first level of the single player game. It's at www.mcwalter.net [mcwalter.net].

    More soon.
    FIn

  • It's amazing to see that Graeme actually stuck with the game industry after such a catastrophe with the fall of the company that tamed the CD-ROM for gaming. See Haunted Glory [http] [gamespot.com] for the misadventures (and silly pictures) of Mr. Devine at Trilobyte.

    What I wish to know is what ever happened to Rob Landeros? Last thing I can find on him is quite depressing [justadventure.com]. [justadventure.com]

    Here's to expecting more good things from Graeme,

    -Rob

  • Graeme saves us from evil pirates (Score:5, Funny)

    by Seemlar ( 90176 ) on Thursday November 22, 2001 @09:51AM (#2600195)
    From Graemes plan:

    Many so-called cdkey generators are in fact virus attacks that steal your own good cdkey, or worse, corrupt your files


    Obviously, Graeme thinks the people who read his .plan are idiots.

    Picture me sitting here with my brand spanking new downloaded copy of RTCW. I run a keygen.

    Oh no! That evil virus attack just sent my valid Wolf key to some insideous pirate! Except it didn't.

    PIRATES USING KEYGENS DON'T HAVE VALID KEYS.

    He used this same stupid assed scare tactic when Q3A came out. It was stupid then, and stupid now. But at least he added the evil terrifying file corrupting ability bit.

    I'm tempted to just download the game and play through the singleplayer game for the heck of it.
  • Traditionally, id software has been the only major game manufacturer to contiually support joysticks in their games. However, I have heard in many newsgroups and posts that this is not the case with RTCW. I think that this is sad.

    Surely, the VAST majority of gamers use the k/m combo. But I contend that it is a small matter to add (or continue) joystick support. I have always used a joystick in gaming (did the Atari 2600 have a k/m? No. It had a joystick). Notwithstanding the inherent ergonomic nightmare that using a k/m presents, the joystick I use (pantherXL) is superb--a trackball on the left for looking and aiming, and a joystick on the right for movement. 14 additional keys around the stick and trackball can be bound to what normal k/mers would use. I never even have to reach for the keyboard.

    I guess I'm in the dwindling minority of gamers who still use the joystick. If id won't support us, I see a dark future ahead for joystick users.

  • Nazi killin! :-) (Score:2, Interesting)

    by jeff13 ( 255285 )
    The first computer I got had Rogue Spear. I think that's it, a Wolfenstien progenitor. 2D pixel Nazi shootin'!

    Now, one night I downloaded that Wolfenstien demo, you know the one. It's been all over Gamespy. Well... I've been killin' Nazis for 2 hours every night on the same map! Did I mention on the same map?!?!!!

    War is HELL. Let's go! Shnell shnell!!! Watch out for turkey dinners. :-D

  • But does it use hexadecimal? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Derek Finch ( 538373 ) on Thursday November 22, 2001 @11:02AM (#2600353)
    Can you see vital signs in hexadecimal? If not, it's a waste of bits.

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