Flaming Sheep Software has released the Classic Doom mod for Doom3. Bringing back the look, feel and maps of the original Doom now running on the Doom3 engine.
Quake IV on Linux has been a breeze to run, I’m going to have to install my Doom3 copy that’s around here somewhere and try this mod out.
Back in July, I blogged about Icculus starting a port of Second Life.
About a month ago, I signed up for a Second Life account as it was: a) free and b) you need an account to get on the Second Life forums. I was looking for an answer or update on the Linux port. I didn’t find anything, but I headed back today, and found this post by Andrew Linden on the Linden staff:
_Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Zaius
I think LL’s contractor has gone walkabout. We saw some initial screenshots, then nothing._
Actually, he [ed: Icculus] did go missing. As far as I know the project was started on his own initiative. He wanted to work on it in his copius spare time and LL’s stance was, “If you can do it, great!”. He made some rapid progress, then got sidetracked and never got back to it. I prodded him twice but he didn’t reply.
Which is very unfortunate. I don’t even have access to SL at home anymore since our Windows computer finally succumbed to a virus. I transferred all of the important data over to a Knoppix/debian machine and haven’t had time to rebuild a fresh Windows installation.
I would love to work on a GNU/Linux port of SL but I already have a full plate of stuff to do that I can’t get done fast enough. 🙁
Very interesting. Nice to have an update, and I’m intrigued that Icculus started the port on his own. I’m curious if he had the source from Linden Labs, or used the Mac client to port it to Linux. I’m disappointed that it never got finished, but I more than understand getting sidetracked when you were working on it for free.
Icculus.org is down (just today) switching ISPs, and I think Icculus has a FAQ up about contacting him – and this is one of those topics that are probably taboo. Bummer.
The mashup artists, known collectively as Dean Gray, posted a mashup of Green Day’s American Idiot album in late November.
Within 10 days, Green Day’s label, Warner Music, sent Dean Gray a takedown notice. Today, Tues. Dec. 13th, is American Edit day, when websites all over the globe host the MP3’s for download. Not for commercial gain, but to share and enjoy Green Day’s music, dubbed with other music, to promote Green Day.
Hit the link above to grab a download link, or surf on over to my other website where I’ve posted the files individually and as one archive (in tar.gz format).
If you’re into other mashups, Lock3down has American Edit for download, as well as some other interesting mashups.
How do you stop a film that exposes how the film industry assigns a rating (G, PG, PG-13, R) to a film?
Rate the film NC-17. Rating a film NC-17 stops the movie from being advertised, limits which theaters will even show it, and effectively censors the message.
The Independent Film Channel (IFC) has stepped up and will show it uncut in Fall 2006, after the film’s debut at Sundance this January.
The film industry is broken – from the hypocrisy in how it rates films to how what films are made to it’s excuses why total revenue is down. And this just highlights how Big Media continues to abuse its power.
Sure, it’s photoshopped together, but this gives you a gut feel for the size of 3rd generation consoles.
The more I think about it, the sexier the PS3 gets. And the lamer Revolution is.
I should post some 360 thoughts after playing with one this weekend.
One of my World of Warcraft guildmates posted an interesting link on our forums today.
Virgin appears to be launching their music service, Virgin Digital with a little contest.
Find the 74 bands in this picture.
It’s an interesting mental exercise. You can follow our progress in the original forum thread.
I’m back from my weekend of fun, if you were wondering where the blog updates were.
We had a mini get together, as we tried to keep the group (and more imporantly, the LAN party) manageable, especially as it’s the holiday time of year.
A few folks flew up from Texas, a few drove over the border from Wisconsin, and the core MN group got together. Friday night we hit Sportspage, with the best wings in Minnesota. The owner of the bar let us hook up a Xbox 360 on one of the plasmas, while the other plasma had the Gopher – Badger hockey game going. (Good job this weekend Badgers!)
Saturday saw a very relaxed LAN party, with Quake IV, UT2k4 (Bombing Run & CTF) and CS:S all played. And we wrapped up with some poker.
A good time was had by most… let’s say all but one, and he knows who he is. 😉
Michael Robertson has done it again. Mr. Robertson founded MP3.com in the mid-90’s before selling it, and went on to found Linspire (I’ll give him credit for owning a Linux distribution, especially one built off Debian, but still…) as well as a VoIP company, and now he’s back in the music business with MP3tunes.com. He was in the news a few weeks ago for hiring DVD Jon, aka Jon Lech Johansen, who cracked the DVD encryption a few years back, as well as iTunes DRM.
What is MP3tunes.com? From their FAQ:
Q: What is the MP3tunes Locker?
A: The MP3tunes Locker gives you unlimited online storage to back-up your entire personal music collection, including your playlists. You can sync your music collection in your MP3tunes Locker with your computers, portable players and devices. You’re able to webload free tracks you find on the Internet directly into your MP3tunes Locker or sideload with one of our partners. You can play your music collection and playlists in iTunes and anywhere you have an Internet connection. The MP3tunes Oboe Software Suite is free and includes Oboe Sync, Oboe for iTunes and Oboe for Firefox.
The Basic MP3tunes Locker includes webloading, sideloading, MP3tunes Oboe Software Suite, and streaming inside iTunes on the Internet at a medium quality bit-rate (56k).
The Premium MP3tunes Locker is $39.95 per year and includes back-up with unlimited storage, syncing, webloading, sideloading, MP3tunes Oboe Software Suite, and streaming inside iTunes on the Internet at a high quality bit-rate (128k).
Do you remember when MP3.com got hosed by the RIAA? Basically, they had an idea that you inserted a music CD in to your PC. Their website said, hey look – you own that CD, thanks for verifying it. Now we’ll stream it to you wherever you are! Well, the RIAA went through the roof, and they took that feature out.
It looks like Mr. Robertson has brought that idea back, but in a much, much bigger way. This time you’re the one uploading your music – and while it may take forever to upload a large collection, you’ve proven that you’ve sent over your files. And now, you can “sideload” – buy music from another provider and have it synced.
Check the site out, and read the FAQ. While some of it will require using their syncing software to get the heavy lifting done, I do give MP3tunes.com credit for having Windows, Mac and Linux clients, multiple music format support, such as MP3, OGG and WMA, as well as a plugin for iTunes and Firefox ready to go at launch.
I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this.
Thanks to gout to FreeCulture.org’s RIAA-free CDs Holiday Gift Guide. FreeCulture.Org has put together a list of bands whose labels are not members of the RIAA. (You know – the group that sues 13 year old kids for things they didn’t do, and when they can’t pay up, blackmails them).
Suprisingly, there’s some really good bands on the lists. A few notable selections:
And plenty more I didn’t name. And check out their blog post making and submitting your own RIAA-free CD Holiday Gift Guide.
So if you’re in the mood for some new music this year, check out one of the above artists – they get that it’s about the music, and the artists – not one of the Big 4 labels and supporting big media’s pockets.
I don’t know if I should laugh or cry at this article on Gamasutra. Recapping a talk given at the Montreal International Game Summit last month, Rich Vogel, VP of Product Development at Sony Online Entertainment spoke about marketing directly to players in game, and managing their community outside of the game.
The fact that the industry is now talking about marketing to players within a game makes me want to cry – especially as almost all MMO games are roleplaying. Marketing and advertising take you out of that context. Whether it’s fantasy like World of Warcraft or Everquest (1 or 2), or sci-fi like Eve Online, Anarchy Online or Star Wars Galaxies, market to the players outside of the game – on their forums, fan sites and other gaming websites. Leave it out of the game.
He does have some really good points on managing a MMOG community.
Vogel insisted that separate game-related web sites be run by developers, not marketing or PR personnel, and that the writers try to keep their style very human and accessible, joking now and again, and seeming informal and down to earth. Another piece of small advice that added to the sum: color code the writers of forums to their status, be they player, moderator, or developer. That way, readers of the forum can easily scan the boards for pertinent information from appropriate people. âYou need to have clear lines of responsibility,â? he says, noting that a clearly color-coded community manager on a forum doesn’t have the same powers that a dev has.
Vogel says MMOG owners do well to admit their mistakes. âWin over your community so that they are forgiving of you when you really screw up,â? he said. He also gave some advice about distracting the players when making a change to the game, not answering controversies that arise, as it just feeds them, and not taking too seriously the forum rants of hardcore players, who don’t represent the silent majority. You can get feedback from the quieter majority, however, by simply administering surveys. However, the hardcore, verbal players are the people who generate word of mouth marketing, Vogel admits, âso keep them happy, too.â?
Now I don’t know if I agree with the distraction comment above, but I do agree in not catering to the vocal minority. It’s interesting to see where Sony Online Entertainment may be going with their games.
