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Games Entertainment

UT2003 Demo Ready 248

Posted by CmdrTaco from the get-your-twitch-on dept.
captainstupid writes "The friendly folks at EPIC have working hard getting a build of the UT2003 demo ready for release. The official word from Mark Rein (VP of Epic games) is that the demo is done and it's being uploaded to the Infrogrames site as we speak. PlanetUnreal has the scoop including snippets from the IRC chat log. The linux demo is on the way as well! Gentlemen! Start your downloads!" With Icewind Dale 2 coming out recently, who has time for a FPS? Update: 09/15 02:00 GMT by T : HyperMagma submitted a link to the Linux version (as found on linuxgames.com) as well -- thanks.
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UT2003 Demo Ready More

UT2003 Demo Ready

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  • I wonder which is more scary... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ... playing UT 2003 a la Half Life style..,
    or being the poor soab system admin who has to keep the servers up while every Slashdotter in sundry hits the server all at once :)
  • I don't think the little list of mirrors that they've put (fansites and all) will survive the craze... We need more mirrors! Anyone?

    I am on Europe and I am downloading it from Australia ... all my mirrors are full!

    Mondongo the redundant

  • the linux demo is already out (Score:5, Informative)

    by tranqlzer ( 170601 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @08:01AM (#4256379)
    as is written on linuxgames [linuxgames.com], mirrors are here:
    mirror 1 [stenstad.net]
    mirror 2 [homelan.com]
    mirror 3 [homelan.com]
    mirror 4 [homelan.com]
    mirror 5 [hedbor.org]

    • OpenGL (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Trevelyan ( 535381 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @09:17AM (#4256602)
      from the Linuxgames article (which is a rather good read) ...According to Daniel, the UT2k3 OpenGL renderer itself was extremely difficult to create, even on Windows. He estimates it was about an order of magnitude harder to write than the one that was made for Unreal Tournament...

      This is not good for Linux games support, OpenGL is an old/aging API compared to the dev speed of D3d. OpenGL also seems rather fragmented w/ all these EXT_ and ARB_ bolted on to it, to keep it current.
      I worry so, that if OpenGL 2.0 is finaly every released it'll be too late (which maybe way MS are holding things up by side tracking the ARB discussions about its (MS) patents)
  • UT demo is coming to play the Penguin...
    There are talks of support on linux... way to go epic! The relevent link is here. [ina-community.com]
    This post talks about unofficial support to Linux.... :)
  • the linux version works fine :)
    Had to make my GeForce2 pro my primary X screen instead of my TNT2 (PCI), and I have to toggle the fullscreen option off and back on again to get mouse control, but otherwise it works very nicely :)

  • Mirror list (Score:5, Informative)

    by prestomation ( 583502 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @08:05AM (#4256393)
    Mirror [216.226.136.160]

    Mirror2 [progameplayer.com] There's no line for these mirrors, and I was getting over 300 kb/s :)

  • mirror in sweden (Score:2, Insightful)

    by fredan ( 54788 )
    you can find it here [fredan.org].
  • Looks like we are going to have to wait a while more for the Mac version. Oh well.

    • Re:No Mac version yet (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Billly Gates ( 198444 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @08:25AM (#4256445) Journal
      Let me ge this straight. They have a linux version which has %10 of the market share that macosx has, which is only %5 of what Windows is at? That does not make any bussiness sense and it would make more sense to port to Windows and macosx first and linux last if ever.

      I hope I do not get flamed for this but I was under the impression that sdl was inferior to both directx and game sprockets api's. I believe apple is trying to port some of apple's audio api's to linux to make a smooth transition.

      If I was in charge of development I would apple's api's so I could create a dual macosx and linux release.

      • Re:No Mac version yet (Score:5, Insightful)

        by EastCoastSurfer ( 310758 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @08:31AM (#4256463)
        I don't think the raw market share percentages are what they are looking at when comparing Macs and linux. How many people who own *only* a mac are going to play UT? Macs bill themselves as the computer for people who really want to spend as little time as possible in front of it. Additionally, many of the game servers will run on linux. So even if they didn't release a linux client they still would have definitely released a the server.
        • How many people who own *only* a mac are going to play UT?

          Yeah but, how many linux-using people are there who don't dual-boot with windows? I doubt that there are many gamers running *only* linux.

        • "for people that really want to spend as little time as possible in front of it"

          Hmm. No. That's not how they bill it.

          Macs are billed as the computer for people who really want to *enjoy* as much time as possible in front of it.

          The Mac version will be out soon enough. No big whoop. The game won't be any less fun when it's released for OS X. But a lot of people I know own only a Mac and play UT. Mac users enjoy their games as much as their PC counterparts (and spend proportionatly as much much on games), they just aren't as inclined to own their machines as a glorified Xbox.
      • Perhaps they just thought it was simpler to port to a new OS on the same hardware architecture, compared to porting to a new OS and a new hardware architecture. Consider the Linux port as half a Mac port and everything's dandy :)
      • From what I read elsewhere, it's an ex-loki games employee now working on the ut2k3 project who has done most of the port himself. I even think he did it mostly in his free time, since a linux client wasn't really the top priority of the management.

        Anyway, props to him for it works just fine on my linux box

        Now that it works on linux, we just need to have strafe jumps and qstat/ase support (in game server browsers suck)

      • Game Sprockets (Score:3, Insightful)

        by 0x0d0a ( 568518 )
        I was under the impression that Game Sprockets were dead. Apple said they were putting them into maintenance mode a few years back.

        Anyway, SDL is not "inferior" to DirectX or Game Sprockets. It's a *much* smaller, more lightweight library, and if you want more functionality, you use other libraries that sit on top of it, like SDL_mixer or SDL_image.

        It also runs on the MacOS, so instead of rewriting the bloody game for every platform, you have to write it *once* and then let it run on Linux, Windows, and the MacOS.

        SDL is one of the nicer things to come from the Open Source world. It's also a Good Thing for Mac users. Don't bash it.

        And why would anyone use Mac-specific APIs at all for something like a game (which doesn't have OS-specific UI elements), when they could use cross-platform ones? (This is ignoring the few exceptions, like Prince of Destruction, which used the Mac's Speech Manager). Mac users get annoyed enough about coders using Win-specific APIs -- asking coders to then use Apple-specific APIs seems a little hypocritical.

      • For what it's worth, IDC is claiming [iht.com] that Linux is outpacing Macintosh on the desktop these days.

        I would imagine that's dominated by technical/business desktops, but Linux is at least competitive with the Macintosh overall in magnitude, and perhaps greater than OS X in particular?

        And keep in mind that the work to produce a Linux port is largely work to produce an OpenGL renderer, and all that work goes directly towards supporting the MacOS X version.


      • They worked so hard for the Linux version because many of the server admins wanted to run linux servers. Linux servers was definately going to be a requirement. The client was a logical progression.
      • Wasn't there a study recently posted on /. that showed that Linux installations actually outnumbered OSX? (By only a little, something like 3.9 percent for Linux vs. 3.7 for OSX.)

        And I have a feeling Linux users are more likely to be gamers than Mac users.
  • A decent list of mirrors can be found Here [unrealtour...2003.co.uk].
  • I am hoping that Epic doesnt take a good thing (UT) and turn it into something overhyped and stupid (ie, Daikatana).

    If the gameplay and aspect of the original UT remains, then UT2k3 will be a very popular game. But if they just make an engine to boast pretty graphics and leave what made UT so great out, then it will probably not do very good.

    Gameplay > Graphics

    Anywho, download commencing....

  • OGG! (Score:3, Informative)

    by fredan ( 54788 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @08:18AM (#4256430) Journal
    Nice too notice that they are using ogg as there music format.

  • Linux Client Mirrors (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The official UT2003 page has a list of mirrors with the Linux client. [unrealtournament2003.com]
  • I downloaded the demo. The levels are fairly purdy. It seems to play like a slightly faster paced ut. Unfortunatly the master server is experiancing too much load at the moment which makes finding a multiplayer game somewhat difficult. Hopefully that will be sorted out soon.
    • I do agree that it's prettier and it's fun, but for some reason it feels like regular vanilla unreal with a few sprinkles..

      of course, I'm using a 900mhz athlon and GeForce 3 and it feels choppy (which detracts from gameplay which was UT's strongpoint), which I'm sure is detracting from my enjoyment of it... So far I give it 7 out of 10.. I'm sure it'll grow on me after a while.
  • Gee thanks guys. Every single site was slashdotted except one which can not above 4k/sec due to congestion. For a 100 meg download this would take close to 2 days.

    • 2days?
      I'm on a 56k modem, downloading this thing, I started at 4am(GMT), it's now 3pm(GMT), I've got 5Mb to go (at an average speed of 2.5Kb/s) that's 30minutes.

      Patience is a virtue, y'know.
    • No, not slashdotted.

      Most servers were at max capacity TWELVE HOURS before this slashdot post. I submitted the story around 9:30 PM EST FRIDAY and it didn't get posted until 9:33 AM SATURDAY. As soon as the announcement was made on IRC.ENTERTHEGAME.COM all the mirrors went down.

      Granted, most die-hard UT fans had their download before the slashdot post appeared (including me), so the servers might have been a little better this morning.

      This is one of the biggest reactions to a demo release ever.

      TWO HOURS after the demo was released, Mark Rein (VP of EPIC Games) stated that there were approx 20,000 people playing online, not including people just playing local lan games and bot games.

      Now, if only they'd release an additional map pack for the demo..... :)
    • I downloaded Counterstrike at about 4k/sec (roughly 100 Meg) in about 5-6 hours.

      PH34r |\/|y R337 D14L Up
    • I'm getting 600 kb/sec off one of them.

  • I Downloaded it Last Night (Score:4, Informative)

    by fidget42 ( 538823 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @08:33AM (#4256472)
    I was glad to see that UT2003 isn't going to require a computer upgrade. All I had to do was downgrade by video settings (1024x768 rather than 1280x1024) and I got really nice frame rates. From the technology demos I have seen, I was afraid that the 'eye candy' would require more CPU and not provide any benefit, but the physics model s nice, and the 'body effects' (i.e., reaction to getting hit or dying) do work well.

    The Deathmatch levels are nice, and not very small. There is a smallish Capture the Flag level that works well for getting use to the new weapons. The new map type, Bombing Run, took some getting use to.

    Bombing Run is like a reverse Capture the Flag. You have to take a 'ball' and put it into the other team's goal. While you have the 'ball' you can't shoot. It really does require team work!

    • There was a mod for Tribes I played a few years back along similar lines, except it was a flag. The difference was you could only hold the flag for a few seconds or you'd explode. Not *that* required team-work :)
    • Easiest strategy for when you find yourself without support -- chuck the ball at the enemy and then shoot him and take it back... :)

    • Re:I Downloaded it Last Night (Score:4, Informative)

      by Speare ( 84249 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @09:36AM (#4256639) Homepage Journal

      Apparently, UT2003 (at least the Demo for Linux, but probably for Windows as well) requires an nVidia board to run. A matter of some OpenGL extension which only nVidia offers.

      This is really very disappointing. I hope that this changes in time for a final release. The site just recommends an nVidia TNT, and the README has some lip-service weak plans like "exploring options" for other drivers.

      I avoid nVidia products on Linux because they lock up their driver core in a proprietary binary. I support ATi products on Linux. While the open source driver development is a little behind the curve, at least it exists. ATi Radeon 7500 works great on my box, and some newer boards are getting support now.

      The kernel has a special flag called "taint" for closed-source modules like the nVidia driver. When some crashing bug is discovered, kernel developers are powerless to do much about it. You can't fully audit the use of the kernel's memory when you've got some unknown binary module loaded. When the kernel interfaces change, the people using closed-source modules can't upgrade until the single supplier of those modules finally graces their users with an update to the drivers.

      I applaud Epic for working a Linux game in parallel. I now urge Epic to engineer the games for more than one make of video card, even if it means the game can't use some little nonstandard OpenGL extension.

      • I avoid nVidia products on Linux because they lock up their driver core in a proprietary binary. I support ATi products on Linux. While the open source driver development is a little behind the curve, at least it exists. ATi Radeon 7500 works great on my box, and some newer boards are getting support now.

        Well, that's fine, but nVidia's closed-source driver is updated often. And the developers are very responsive (or so I've heard), so if a crashing bug exists you could always do the old-fashioned thing and report it to them.

        So, while I would prefer an open-source driver, I don't think it's worth dropping back to one which is "behind the curve".

        Joe
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Actually, nVidia doesn't open-source their driver because they CAN'T. They license certain methods that were patented. At least some of those patents were SGI properties that MSFT bought some months ago.

          I don't care WHY a vendor doesn't open their code. I just care that software doesn't support proprietary lock-ins by depending on nonstandard extensions that no other vendor will offer.

          • At least some of those patents were SGI properties that MSFT bought some months ago.

            Long before MSFT bought those patents, SGI was on record denying that they were, in any way, preventing nVidia from open sourcing their drivers. nVidia hasn't for one reason only: they don't want to.

            Dinivin

      • Re:I Downloaded it Last Night (Score:5, Informative)

        by dinivin ( 444905 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @10:32AM (#4256812)
        Apparently, UT2003 (at least the Demo for Linux, but probably for Windows as well) requires an nVidia board to run.

        This is not true at all. The XiG accelerated servers now support the S3TC extension under Linux (and offer fully featured demo versions), and all Radeons support S3TC under Windows....

        BTW, there is nothing non-standard about the S3TC extension. It's quite well accepted and implemented on nearly every new (ie. within the last year or two) video card on the market. The issue of implementing support for the extension in the DRI drivers is a purely legal one, not technical one.

        Dinivin

        • Not true at all? The UT2003 Demo for Linux README states, "if you want to play the game now, pop in an nVidia card."

          (As if all interested parties have a stack of video cards on their shelf.)

          • Hey moron, it's not true at all. I don't give a flying @#$#@ what the README states. I just played it under linux with a demo of the XiG accelerated X server on my Radeon 8500. XiG released this demo on the 13th of this month, which is probably why the README doesn't mention it as a possibility.

            It's also not true that you need an nVidia card to play it under Windows, which you said was "probably" the case. You were wrong on both counts. Deal with it.

            Dinivin
      • Okay, so because NVidia is protecting thier intellectual property you don't support them? Sure, ATI's drivers are Open Source, but big whoop - ATI's infamous for poorly written drivers. nVidia's detonators were almost a revolution to the industry - like hell they're just going to give that away. The real issue is that nVidia obviously doesn't see a business reason to write good drivers for Linux. So then buy an ATI!

        Regardless, I too hope that the UT2003 engine moves away from nVidia (even though I have a GF3). I like how game engines exploit it to the fullest, but I believe in focusing on standard API's like DirectX and OpenGL, not a piece of hardware.
      • While it would be nice to have an open-source driver, having ones based on the same codebase as their Windows drivers is pretty close - NV's Linux drivers are *EXCELLENT*

        As to the kernel interface portion itself - The drivers are released as two parts. One is the X driver module (closed-source), the other is the kernel glue (open-source) - NV has been VERY good about upgrading their kernel glue to track kernel changes, and in cases where they don't immediately release a new version, they have often put up unofficial user-submitted patches that allow people to use the driver before they release the next official version (Which happens often)

        ATis work great? Last I heard the oh-so-almighty open-source drivers were missing texture compression, a key (and standard) feature on ALL modern cards less than 2-3 years old. This makes the ATi drivers essentially useless for any modern 3D game. If you want TC support with an ATi, not only do you have to deal with a "dreaded" closed-source driver, you have to PAY XiG for it.
    • I was glad to see that UT2003 isn't going to require a computer upgrade. All I had to do was downgrade by video settings (1024x768 rather than 1280x1024) and I got really nice frame rates. I have a 1.2ghz Amd Thunderbird + Plain-old Geforce2 GTS. It runs ok at 800x600x32 as long as you don't put Hardware Voices /w EAX, and you keep some of the settings at Normal. I would like it if Epic could detect my hardware settings and give me recommended settings though. Bombing run is a blast to play btw. Though I can't go online...no master server!

  • Mac version..? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I wouldn't expect to see a mac version of this demo, but I'm sad to see no mention whatsoever on these sites of mac support planned at any point for this game. I'm also vaguely surprised, because at one point around the release of the iMac, Unreal was just about the only game of any sort to speak of available for the macintosh.

    Will UT2003 be hitting the Mac Games Ghetto, like, ever? ((Note: any point after 2005 is equivilent to "never", becuase neither i nor anyone else is going to buy it it if it's that old by then.)) A couple of mac rumors sites reported a while back that Epic's VP or somebody said they were working on an in-house port; was that just BS?

    Incidentally, I find it interesting that there is a linux version but not a macintosh one, an odd recent trend. I'm not bitter-- i'm just glad linux people get to see these games at all-- but i do find this, well, a little odd, since generally you can just recompile most linux software for Mac OS X with minimal trouble, assuming you're willing to force your customers to install an X server. This probably would be an absolute last resort, as it would rather suck for the user (although it would be infinitely better than NOTHING-- if it meant we got Tribes 2, it would be worth it :( ). But for something like this demo, Epic could very well have just pushed out a half-ass X11-for-OSX version of the demo and said either "this probably won't work, wait N months and we'll have a working mac version" or "this probably won't work and we don't feel like doing a real mac port so don't expect it to, ever" and all the bleeding-edge people like me who already have X11 installed would be super happy.

    Why don't game companies like Epic do this? It seems UNIX-to-OSX recompiles would be at least an acceptable stopgap for many people. Is it just that the game companies just do not have macintoshes to do testing/support with, but they can install linux on the machines they already have? Do these games include x86 assembly code, or have endian-ness issues they don't want to fix, or do they depend on libraries that aren't available for OS X? (Winelib, svgalib? Are there OS X versions of those?) Are there performance issues, and/or do they think a shoddy X11 thingy, even as a prebeta demo, would reflect badly on them? Do they not want to support people who can't get xfree86 working? Did it just not occur to them? Do they just hate mac users? Which one, or a mix of all of these things?

    -- super ugly ultraman

    • Mac is a go.. (Score:3, Informative)

      by LinuxGeek ( 6139 )
      A little checking would have revealed much about UT2K3 on the Mac. The real reason that we have a Linux version right now was that OpenGL support had to be added for the Mac version anyway. The codebase of the Win32 and Linux version are quite similar when OpenGL support is added. The Mac port is supposed to be underway and should be a couple of months behind the retail win32 release. Go to UnrealTournament2003 [unrealtournament2003.com] and check the forums for more info.
  • My first impressions after twenty minutes of playing against bots: the "feel" is a lot more like Q3 than the original UT. That's a little disappointing for me.
    • That reminded me of a penny arcade and made me laugh...had to go find it...hehe http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=1999-12 -15

    • Re:Feels Like Q3 (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Lord Kestrel ( 91395 )
      It doesn't just look like quake3... it IS quake3. Every single thing in the game, from the menus to the bots to the gameplay is quake3. The only difference is the detail of the textures. And with about 1.4gigs of textures on the release version, it's a bit higher detail than quake3. But it feels absolutely identical to quake3.

      I've been playing the full release for sometime now ( helps to have friends at epic ;D ), and I'm extremely disappointed. When UT came out, it looked and played so well, that I was hoping this release would be the same. Instead, they removed the Assault game type (my favorite), and added in the Bombing Run. Unfortunately, Bombing Run is entertaining, but it requires far more teamwork than you'll find on your typical public server. With Assault, you could win even if your team didn't know what to do, because all they had to do was frag. Bombing Run is like the vip maps in Counter-Strike. And without a lot of teamwork, you'll lose everytime.

      Altough the game has pretty graphics, it's just not fun. Unless you loved the way Quake3 felt and played, don't bother downloading this.
  • And because bandwith is such a terrible thing to waste, here's another mirror for the UnrealDemo [vinyamar.com].
    I wonder just how much my little machine can take, but if it's only a few people (haha, on slashdot) it should be fairly fast.

  • ftp://orbital.us/UT2003/UT2003-Demo-Linux.sh.bin ftp://orbital.us/UT2003/UT2003-Demo.exe Max connections: 100
    • Forgot about no automatic spacing here, oh well. ftp://orbital.us/UT2003/UT2003-Demo-Linux.sh.bin
      ftp://orbital.us/UT2003/UT2003-Demo.exe

      Max connections: 100
  • WTH? The Linux Demo was released before this story made it to /.! Come on /., get on the ball!

    This is truly great news for Linux gamers, and for Linux on the desktop.

  • Looks like the demo has been posted to alt.binaries.games.unreal .. the group was long derelict but will seem to have new life for this one file.

    This is better than the 2 hour + wait time for an FTP slot from fileplanet or gamespy.

    (for you usenet newbies, you have to reassemble the file using a zip program from 5 parts .. and it is in .zip, not .rar)

    No mention of the linux version.

    I'll post it when it gets done downloading.

    Now to see how this runs on a ATI Radeon.

  • Tried to fire it up on my notebook, not expecting much with the i81x video, but-

    Q: I have a working, hardware accelerated OpenGL setup, but when I try
    to run the game, I get a message on the console and in my logs that
    says something like "OpenGL renderer relies on DXTC/S3TC support".
    A: Your drivers do not support the "GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc"
    extension. This is needed to play the game. THIS IS NOT A UT2003
    BUG. Currently, the only working drivers we are aware of that
    support this extension on Linux are the official Nvidia binary-only
    drivers. We are currently exploring options with other driver
    vendors, and we are willing to cooperate with any driver vendor that
    wants to support ut2003. The bottom line, however, is this: if you
    want to play the game right now, you should pop an Nvidia card into
    your machine.

    Guess I'll have to get up off my ass and use the desktop.

    • Your drivers do not support the "GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc" extension.

      Just in case anybody's curious, I'll explain what that extension to the OpenGL API does. Apparently, it allows use of textures compressed with a still image codec developed by S3 Graphics Inc [s3graphics.com] (hence "s3tc" == "S3 texture compression"). Each block of 4x4 pixels has a "dark color", a "light color", and 16 bytes representing the mix of dark and light colors for each pixel in the block. It's a bit like JPEG but much faster to decompress in real time.

      Microsoft has licensed S3 texture compression for use as the standard texture codec in DirectX 8 Graphics. Nintendo has licensed it as well for the GameCube console's video.

    • Supposedly (see earlier posts on the subject), if you get one of the "non-free" X servers from XiG, they have S3TC support now.
  • for Windows [windex.org]
    for Linux [windex.org]
    Enjoy. There's only a limited number of connections allowed but if you can get through it should be fast. :)
  • For those of you (like me) who couldn't get a great d/l speed from any of the servers, I would recommend downloading DAP (www.downloadaccelerator.com). DAP can take a list of sites, and open multiple connections to get the file you want. I couldn't get more than 20kB/s on any one site, but with DAP and a list of 6 mirrors, I was able to max out my 1.5MB connection.

  • Release the demo fan art (Score:3, Funny)

    by spiro_killglance ( 121572 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @09:12AM (#4256588) Homepage
    The demo was a little late, so while they
    were waiting some for the fan on the UT2003 forums, made some really funny "late demo"
    posters, enjoy.

    Release the demo, fan art [ina-community.com]
  • http://www.filemirrors.com/

    Pages upon pages of UT mirrors. :-)

  • My mirror for the files (Score:5, Informative)

    by supertux ( 608589 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @09:43AM (#4256653) Homepage
    I've got a 150 megabit (like 10 T1s) connection that isn't doing anything today, so here are the links from my server.

    Unreal 2003 Windows demo [supertux.com]
    Unreal 2003 Linux demo via ftp [supertux.com]

    SuperTux
  • ...they [nvidia.com] also have a fast mirror.

  • With Icewind Dale 2 coming out recently, who has time for a FPS?

    Students, of course.

  • if there was ever a good reason for p2p. Kontiki and Kazaa, are you ready?
  • cant work on my ati 8500 under linux...

    blame texture compression...

    anyway... tried it on windows, and its no big deal...
    • If you want to try it with your Radeon under Linux, download the demo of the Xi Accelerated X server from XiG's website [xig.com].

      It's a fully functional demo of their server that will run for 30 minutes before killing the X server. You can run the demo as many times as you want.

      Dinivin
  • I'm fascinated that the demo was realeased at exactly this time. Just happens to be the same weekend that Battlefield 1942 is out. A lot of the discussions on the UT2k3 boards went "while I was waiting for the demo I fell in love with this great new game, Battlefield 1942." I wonder if the publishers were running a little scared?

  • I just finished downloading and trying the one-player version of UT2k3. It seemed pretty good. Most of the old favorites are there (mini-gun [my fave!!!], bio gun, flak cannon, etc) but a few have some modifications. The rocket launcher only shoots 3 shells and I think they no longer home. The sniper rifle seems to be some sort of lightning shooting thing, but didn't get to try it in the deathmatch I played.

    New weapons, too: Ion Painter: paint a target with a laser and watch the in-orbit satellite take it out! >:)

    Shield gun: Some sort of combo energy weapon, shield against energy weapons. Again, didnt' try it yet.

    I like the interface a lot better.

    My only gripe is that the textures are good enough that sometimes it is hard to see the opponents far away; They blend in, unlike UT where you could always see red uniforms against grey backgrounds. I guess I could turn down textures so that they other team can be seen, but what's the fun in that? :)
  • Let me relay my first twenty minutes with UT2003. It was rather dissappointing.

    Try and find a server - get one with a password, this isn't displayed in the server browser so I had to connect to find out.

    After two attempts to get a server, hop on. Ping is roughly 100-150ms and people are warping (slightly) all over the place, myself included.

    Suddenly find myself unable to fire any weapons, notice that everyone else has ceased to exist. Stumble upon the effect of a laser shot in midair. Walk around it a few times, disconnect.

    Connect to another server for some CTF. Walk around, run out to get into combat... and fall through the ground. Through. The. Ground. Not off a cliff... Through.

    That was last night. Now, this morning I hop on a server and spend an hour playing without any problems other than the relatively frequent three-foot-warp effect, and just not having a very good sense of... well, walking. It just -feels- wrong in some way. Even though I just "0wned" a server, 70+ points ahead of my next competition, I don't think I'll be getting this game unless a demo comes out that fixes these bugs. I might suck at BF1942, but at least it feels like a more honest experience.
  • It's pretty amusing. For the Linux demo, anyway; haven't tried the Windoze version.

    • And here it is, very interesting indeed. (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

      PLEASE READ CAREFULLY. BY USING OR INSTALLING THIS SOFTWARE, OR BY
      PLACING OR COPYING THIS SOFTWARE ON YOUR COMPUTER HARDWARE, COMPUTER RAM
      OR OTHER STORAGE MEDIUM, YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF
      THIS LICENSE. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS, PROMPTLY DISCONTINUE
      THE INSTALLATION PROCESS AND CEASE ALL USE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

      1. Thanks. Congratulations and thank you for licensing our software.
      We're sorry to cramp your style, but our lawyers tell us that if we want
      to keep control and ownership of the cool stuff we're developing, we
      have to make sure you understand and agree that you are just getting a
      right to use it and that that right is limited in certain ways. So
      here's what follows is what you need to know and agree to.

      2. License. The demonstration version of the software accompanying
      this license and the related documentation (the "Demo Software") are
      licensed for your use and gaming enjoyment, subject to terms and
      limitations in this license agreement. This is not a full fledged
      version of the software; it is a demonstration version.

      3. Use Restrictions. We want you to enjoy our products for years to
      come, and we want to be able to continue to send you awesome games, so
      you need to be aware that there are some things you cannot do with the
      Demo Software. The Demo Software contains copyrighted material, trade
      secrets and other proprietary material. You may not decompile, modify,
      reverse engineer, prepare derivative works based on the Demo Software,
      or disassemble the Demo Software. You may not rent, sell, lease,
      barter, or sublicense the Demo Software. You may not delete the
      copyright notices or any other proprietary legends on the original copy
      of the Demo Software. You may not offer the Demo Software on a
      pay-per-play basis or otherwise commercially exploit the Demo Software
      or use the Demo Software for any commercial purpose. You may, however,
      exchange the Demo Software at no charge among other end-users and
      distribute them to others over the Internet, on magazine cover disks, or
      otherwise for free. You may not ship or export the Demo Software to any
      country other than where you bought it, in violation of the U.S. Export
      Administration Act (or any other law governing such matters) and you
      will not utilize and will not authorize anyone to utilize the Demo
      Software in violation of any applicable law. The Demo Software may not
      be downloaded or otherwise exported into (or to a national or resident
      of) any country to which the U.S. has embargoed goods or to anyone or
      into any country who/which are prohibited by applicable law, from
      receiving it.

      4. Termination. This license is effective until one of us terminate
      it. You may terminate this license at any time by destroying the Demo
      Software and related documentation. In the unlikely event that you are
      naughty and fail to comply with any provision of this license, this
      license will terminate immediately without notice from us. Upon
      termination, you must destroy the Demo Software and related
      documentation. Please don't wait for us to come after you; it would not
      be pleasant for either of us. If we do have to come after you, we're
      going to expect you to pay us for our troubles, including the cost of
      our lawyers.

      5. Disclaimer of Warranty on Software. You are aware and agree that
      use of the Demo Software and the media on which it is recorded at your
      sole risk. The Demo Software, related documentation and the media are
      provided "AS IS". INFOGRAMES (OUR PUBLISHER) AND EPIC GAMES, INC.
      ("EPIC") EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL OTHER WARRANTIES. EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
      INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY
      AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE
      FUNCTIONS CONTAINED IN THE DEMO SOFTWARE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS.
      NO ORAL OR WRITTEN INFORMATION OR ADVICE GIVEN BY US OR ANY OF OUR
      AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVES SHALL CREATE A WARRANTY OR IN ANY WAY
      INCREASE THE SCOPE OF THIS WARRANTY. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW
      THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, S0 THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT
      APPLY TO YOU.

      6. Limitation of Liability. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING WITHOUT
      LIMITATION, NEGLIGENCE, SHALL INFOGRAMES, EPIC OR ANY OF THEIR
      RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, DIRECTORS, AGENTS, LICENSEES,
      SUBLICENSEE OR ASSIGNS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR
      CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES THAT RESULT FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE
      DEMO SOFTWARE OR RELATED DOCUMENTATION, EVEN IF SUCH PARTIES HAVE BEEN
      ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF THOSE DAMAGES. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT
      ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR
      CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY
      TO YOU. In no event shall our total liability to you for all damages,
      losses, and causes of action (whether in contract, tort or otherwise)
      exceed the amount paid by you for the Software.

      7. Controlling Law and Severability. This license is governed by and
      construed in accordance with the laws of the State of North Carolina,
      USA. Exclusive venue for all litigation shall be in Wake County, North
      Carolina. If any provision of this license is unenforceable, the rest
      of it shall remain in effect.

      8. Complete Agreement. This license constitutes the entire agreement
      between the parties with respect to the use of the Demo Software and the
      related documentation. However, Infogrames and Epic reserve the right
      to modify the terms of this license from time to time and will post
      notice of material changes somewhere within www.epicgames.com.

      9. Copyright. The Demo Software and all copyrights, trademarks and all
      other conceivable intellectual property rights related to the Demo
      Software are owned by Infogrames, Epic or such parties' licensors and
      are protected by United States copyrights laws, international treaty
      provisions, an army of clones, and all applicable law, such as the
      Lanham Act. You must treat the Demo Software like any other copyrighted
      material, as required by 17 U.S.C. section 101 et seq. and other
      applicable law. This program you've licensed was produced through the
      efforts of many people who earn their livelihood from its lawful use.
      These people like to eat, so please feel free to make as many copies of
      only this Demo Software for your friends and acquaintances to enjoy it
      as well............and maybe they'll license full versions like we know
      you will.

      10. Enjoyment Requirements. We are aware that there are rumblings and
      grumblings within the gaming community about heavy handed, legally
      onerous license agreements. You have our word that this one is as fair
      and even handed as it gets and, as you have read this far, you know it
      to be true. Now, be gone from this screen and enjoy the Demo Software,
      and if you like it, be sure to tell all your friends how great it is and
      make sure they try it, too!
  • They've registered unrealtournament2004.com up to unrealtournament2010.com.

    Ha ha.. perhaps this is a case where they don't want the same thing that happened to Sega, happen to them? (Commodore managed to stick that CDTV ad right next to Sega headquarters... "It'll take years for Sega to be this good!")

  • I was expecting more (Score:4, Insightful)

    by bogie ( 31020 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @11:59AM (#4257098) Journal
    I was eagerly awaiting this, but I'm a bit disappointed. Its just UT with nicer graphics. Really that's all. The games besides the Bomb run one are exactly the same ie Deathmatch and CTF. Even the weapons with the exception of the lightening gun are the same.

    I've heard a few people say well what did you expect it is the UT sequel? Well I expected something besides improved graphics. Sorry but this isn't 1999 and with games like RTCW out which require actual teamwork this game just doesn't hold up.

    That said if your a die-hard UT fan with new hardware who still plays the old version constantly, you'll probably like it. If you have played any games which require actual teamwork and are tired of straight up twitch deathmatch then this isn't for you.

    I know my mini-review may sound a bit harsh, but after all the hype and years since UT came out, I was expecting something original.

  • IceWind Dale 2? (Score:4, Funny)

    by SetupWeasel ( 54062 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @02:22PM (#4257594) Homepage
    With UT 2003 coming out who has time for CmdrTaco's idiotic commentary on what games we should like.

    CmdrTaco, I think I loathe you, but I want to know for sure.
    So call Windows users stupid, and make another Linux post.
    I loathe you.

    SW
  • The demo is just horrible. Great graphics, horrible gameplay. Don't waste your time downloading this.

    If anyone else thinks otherwise, I'd really like to hear about it.
  • I have the lastest 1.0-3xxx drivers from nvidia and I can run quake 3 etc etc properly. However this demo refuses to run, saying it needs Xig-Nonstandard something or other. Is my card too old?

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