RavenGames News Archives

February 2002

The official LEC JK2 site released the system requirements for the game. The game FAQ has been updated with 4 new entries as well.

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PlanetSoldier conducted an interview with the team of an upcoming Soldier of Fortune II mod, The 45th Platoon.

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The first patch for Korax Mod II has been released. Besides minor bugfixes and feature enhancements it includes full support for the Hexen mission pack, Deathkings of the Dark Citadel (including shops). Also, this time demos have been recorded, with a total play time of over 20 minutes, demonstrating many of the Korax Mod II-specific features. For more info and the download, see the Korax Mod II site.

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I've just recieved this e-mail from Angel Quinones, Chairman of the [BOD] Clan.

Hello My Friends,

First off, I would like to thank you all for hosting my maps on your web sites. I really appreciate all the positive feedback I get due to the advertising of my maps from your sites. I truly appreciate all the hard work you have all done on my behalf.

I would like to formally announce the release date for my 2 newest maps. My maps are almost out of the beta testing phase and I will be sending you the links for the new maps on 03-01-02 and posting them to http://www.07030.com.

I have been working on these maps since the release of my last map, BOD_LAUNDRY_LP, back in December of 2001. I don't want to give you all the info yet on these tentative maps, except that one of the new maps may come as a surprise to some of you.

As soon as my maps are out of the Beta testing phase, I will be emailing you again with the links and the read me files.

Thank you for your time, and all your help and support.

With the deepest respect for those that support me as a mapper and a web designer,

Angel Quinones
AKA ||BOD||ANGEL
Chairman - The [BOD] Clan
http://www.07030.com

Source: Holodeck 5

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Laz from Elite Farce has just contacted be about two of his newly released files. The first is the VoyDress Collection, this includes the Voyager senior staff in the new dress uniforms from "Star Trek: Insurrection". The second is the Picard Collection for those of you can't get enough of Picard this collection contains not 4, not 8, but 11 different Picard skins for your enjoyment! As per usual you can get these files, and all of Laz's latest releases from http://3dactionplanet.com/eliteforce/elitefarce/latest.html.

Source: Holodeck 5

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Just got from Ahumado a package with 3 Heretic II maps, going by the name of Three Fates. You can download them here (1.68 MB).

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Ahumado sends us a map of his own creation, called Gehenna. It requires the Hexen II add-on pack, Portal of Praevus to play properly. Get the map here (523 KB).

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A couple of new screenshots surfaced for Korax' Heritage: Scattered Evil, showing off new textures and buildings in the city.
Also, rumors claim a patch for Korax Mod II is scheduled for later this week, so be sure to check back in a couple of days.

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The SoF site rankings on PlanetSoldier did reset several times over the weekend, deleting all early votes. So if you gave your vote before last night, please resubmit (you're allowed to rate a site every 24 hours anyway).

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There's a new beta version of the Doomsday engine, including fixes for several network bugs and netgame performance tweaking, a different iwad/pwad handling, and enhancements for demo recording/playback (most important of them the camera mode). For more information and to download, see the jHeretic or the jHexen site.

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Another Soldier of Fortune clan, GBR, just moved in here at RavenGames. Be sure to check out their site.

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There is a new beta release of Vavoom, 1.12b. It fixes most of the bugs reported in the Vavoom Forums, and also introduces EDGE 3D floors and line specials. You can get this latest beta release here.

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Ice sends word that his upcoming Heretic episode now has an official name, Sinful Discharge. Also, work is progressing nicely, 6 of the 9 maps are fully finished. There is also a score of new screenshots, so you should definitely go and check out Ice's site.

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I've just received an e-mail from Laz Rojas of Elite Farce. He's just released 2 new skins. Saavik from 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn'(best Trek movie ever!), and Valeris from 'Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country'. As ususal you can find these skins, and infact all of Laz's latest releases at http://3dactionplanet.com/eliteforce/elitefarce/latest.html.

Source: Holodeck 5

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Yeah, that's right! SOF2 isn't even out yet and SOFCenter.com has posted news about a skinning contest from Raven. You could get your skin in the multiplayer game upon release.

Check out SOFCenter for the details and link!

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GameSpy's Sluggo has conducted a supreme interview with Soldier of Fortune 2's Project Administrator Kenn Hoekstra.

We're starting to see shooters get away from the convention of unbelievably strong "boss" characters at the end of the game or large missions. Not wanting to give anything away, how do you feel about this, and how it might relate to SoF2?

Kenn: I think "boss" characters have their place in gaming, but perhaps more on the console side of things and more in fantasy and science fiction-type games. I do think they can be used in some instances in a realistic environment, but not many. "Boss" encounters in SOF2 are minimal.

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Due to many requests PlanetSoldier have setup a private Mod forum for Mod developers to hang out, share information and provide tech support for those in despair. They hope this will give SoF2 a good chance of having many successful mods. If you require the password e-mail Reaper: Reaper@PlanetSoldier.com.

Check out the Forums!

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Zuk hasn't been very public lately so PlanetSoldier thought we would bring him back! Heres a brief extract:

If you could go back and start development on SoF2 again, is there anything you'd change?There's about a hundred things I would change. I probably would have scheduled everything totally different, cut more from the outset, and scaled back our technology development. But if I did all that, the game wouldn't be what it is either. All you can do is take everything you have learned and apply it to your next project, hopefully for the better.

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Got an SoF/SoF2 site which you want people to know about? Want to know what people really think of your site. Well here is your chance, as a new feature to PlanetSoldier they have added a Top100 site list where users vote for their favourite site (Votes are reset every Sunday). Please all SoF sites signup! So to see who is #1 or just to look at SoF sites have a look at PlanetSoldiers SoF Top 100!

Update (by RambOrc): If you like RavenGames, you can vote for us right away:

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The Coop (an upcoming Elite Force mod that allows you to play cooperative on the original single player maps) just released a dozen wallpapers. Check them out here.

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HomeLanFed conducted an interview with Kenn Hoekstra about different aspects of Jedi Knight II. A new info is that the game will have several new multiplayer modes tailored to the Star Wars universe. Check out the interview here.

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Jedi Knotes #7 is now out. This issue is about the huge amount of artwork put into this game, like "tile sets with an average texture size of 512x512 each (vs. 64x64 and 128x128 in the Quake II engine games)". What's more,

"The weapon skin pages were done at 1024x512 for the in-view models and 512x512 in third person, making them the most detailed weapons in any Raven game released to date."

For more info on this, read Jedi Knotes #7.

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GamesDomain announced a chat with Raven Software on March 1, at 1 PM EST. This is your chance to put your questions on project leads Steve Raffel and Kevin Schilder, project admin Kenn Hoekstra and Activision producer Graham Fuchs. See GamesDomain for more details.

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JediKnightII.net reports on Wired Lamp Studios' announcement to make a cooperative mode for Jedi Knight II, something Raven decided to leave out of the game.

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Upon several requests, Raven Software authorized the free distribution of the original Black Crypt manual, which you can download here (32 KB).

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PlanetSoldier conducted an interview with SoF II project lead and level designer Jon Zuk.

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So you want a job with Raven Software? This might be your chance:

"Currently, we have an open spot available on our console development team and we're looking to fill it with a talented, experienced and team-oriented professional character animator-type person."

Above excerpt is from Rob Gee's .plan, read that for more information.

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Futurelooks has a new Jedi Outcast preview.

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The Massassi Temple has 7 new Jedi Knight II screenshots (scroll down to the Feb 16 news).

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The first movie is in German. You can see a soundstudio in Germany and the man who speaks Luke Skywalker in German. You can download the movie here from Jedi Outcast TH.
The second movie is with in-game szenes and it's really AMAZING! The quality is very good. You can download the movie here.

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I asked Kenn Hoekstra about the world wide release date of Jedi Outcast. He told me that Jedi Outcast will come out in March 2002 world wide (Germany, England, USA etc. ). And the status is now "PostBeta".

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It's that time of development when a game gets previewed like a banshee. Expect to see these SOFII previews popping up all over the net for the next few weeks.

Todays preview is brought to you by Ferrago. The following news header pretty much sums it up, "Ferrago take a gander at Raven's Quake 3-powered ultra-violent sequel".

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Raven-games.com conducted an interview with Jacques Krige, the developer behind NewHexen, a source port for Hexen II.
Note: Don't let yourself be misled by the screenshots which are from 4 other games (Heretic, Hexen, Quake II and Quake III), but not from Hexen II. :)

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Computer and Video Games posted a new Jedi Knight II preview.

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GameFeeder.Net conducted an interview with Kenn Hoekstra. This time it's not about this or that upcoming game, but about Kenn as game developer and human being. Read the interview here.

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PSOF has posted an interview with Kenn Hoekstra regarding SOF2. The questions basically inform us of the focus of the Raven team for the final work on the greatly expected title. Sorry, I saw no release date specified in the interview. You can check it all out at PSOF.

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I just received this e-mail from Aphextwin reguarding a new release of EF Runner:
Hi,

It's been forever but I have updated EF Runner and created a new full
install, for more information on all the changes since version 1.5 visit
http://runner.gameadmins.com/index.asp?page=efrunner

Kind Regards,
Aphextwin
Aphextwin@GameAdmins.com

Source Holodeck 5

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PCGamesPortal has published a comprehensive preview of SOFII in German. I could send you to the Babel Fish Online Language Translator to translate the page like this, but it might only confuse you as it did to me. If you understand German, it's worth a gander.

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That's right! Raven has released a trailer of the game action for us all to druel over. This 17Mb file can be found on PCGames.com.

You'll see weapons, player, cool moves, explosions, infrared vision, and so much more AWESOME STUFF! WOW! get it!!!

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Though Soldier of Fortune II is not yet out, mods for it are already popping up all the time. PlanetSoldier conducted an interview with still another one of these, called "Battlefield Heaven". This mod lets you immerse into an outer-space conflict between 3 different interstellar races. Read the interview here.

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Ok Guys, our Mod A Klingons Quest!
Need some help!
We are actually!
3 Mappers
1 Modeller
2 2D Artist (for the lcars and HUD)
We Finish The Story, and begin Mapping, Modelling, 2D Graphing!
We have a Klingon Disruptor Model, and I Finished the New HUD!
Some Maps are Ready!
Now we need more Help!
Website is comming this week!
Are you intrested e-mail me
monster@l0l0l0.de

Source: Holodeck 5

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PC Games has posted Kenn Hoekstra's recent entry into the designer diaries. It fills us in on clsing date of release and what is left to accomplish. It tells of how they are optimising the game for slower machines, fixing up some multiplayer issues, and finalizing the save game functionality.

You can see what Kenn has to say over at PC Games.

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A new version (beta 3) of jHeretic/jHexen has been released, with some tweakings and changes over the previous (beta 2) version. SkyJake is also looking for someone who could take over the Direct3D renderer, if you're interested be sure to drop him a mail.

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JediKnightII.net has 4 new exclusive Jedi Outcast screenshots.

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PlanetSoldier conducted an extensive interview with Soldier of Fortune II sound designer Zachary Quarles.

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In less than 4 months (since the site moved to its own domain in October), Vavoom reached the 10'000 visitors. With 4 new engine versions in these months and a bustling activity in the Vavoom forums (opened less than a month ago), it once again becomes clear that the DOOM/Heretic/Hexen community is everything but extinct.

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In case you somehow missed this or didn't have luck downloading somewhere else, we've got the Jedi Knight II trailer on RavenGames now. Download here (3.18 MB).
Note: You'll need QuickTime movie player to watch the trailer.

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ReverendTed on PlanetSoldier reports another SoF2 preview. Unlike many others lately, this one is rather informative and interesting to read, dealing not only with gameplay issues like weapons, foes, terrain and weather effects, but also with relations of game and real world, be it the concept of "bad guys" used by US politicians or the so-called effect of shooter games on real-world violence. Read it all at Computer and Video Games.

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Just got my PC Gamer magazine in the mail and they had something to complain about with SOFII and the Random Mission Generator (RMG). While they do make sure we know that the game they played was not in any way complete in construction and that it was great that Activision and Raven is trying something new by incorporating the RMG into a game of this type (the idea of RMG's has previously only been used in RTS's), they point out that the RMG just isn't random enough.

Basically said, the generator did not add alot to the game. Perhaps the unfinished AI was the cause of poor play, but the layouts all seemed to be the same. You had to fight going in or getting out of a situation... that's it.

I surely hope that they build they were playing was incomplete. Better yet, I hope that SOFII is delivered with a map editor as well. With the help of a few mods and creative mind, we could have an awesome game to play in the coming months regardless of the RMG.

If you want the full scoop, you need to get your hands on the March 2002 issue of PC Gamer Magazine.

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I founded a picture from Kyle`s female partner in ingame graphic. It`s from the offical video trailer.

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Ice sends word on latest progress of his upcoming Heretic episode. Not only is about half of the episode done already, there are also some all-new textures for an even cooler look. For more info and screenshots, check out Ice's page.

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JediKnightII.net conducted an interview with Raven programmer Pat Lipo. They put a load of questions regarding the decision to limit your player to either the Dark or the Light side in multiplayer as well, not only in single player mode. Read it all here.

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The first shot of Luke Skywalker with in-game engine is out. The 3D model looks indeed cool.

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Today week 2 of the Elite Force Community Mapping Challenge begins. Early screenshots of some of the maps are also available on the Screenshots page. Source Holodeck 5

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The Colony 7 Mod has a new URL address http://www.colony7.tk/

The Enterprise: NX-01 Mod also has a new URL address http://www.enterprisenx01.tk/

Assaulted Empire beta 0.1 is available from O'Brien's EF Mods and Maps

Toonloon, from Space Station K7, needs some feedback on the TOS Weapons Mod

Red Dwarf - Canaries: Hazards of Smeg have posted some screenshots of Rimmer Temple and Deck 1. Check it out.

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Over at JK2-World (German) you can find a special about the previously released trailer - as you guessed, the special is in German. The special features 24 snapshots of the trailer, which might interested the guys who haven't seen the trailer yet. However, if you can read German or if you use a translater (I think Babelfish is one), you might also understand the text. So, give it a try!

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LucasArts has added a new NRI on the official JK2-page:

Report from NRI agent on Tatooine
To: Mon Mothma
From: Captain Loftus
The recovery and incarceration team has arrived on Tatooine as instructed. We have located the Imperial headquarters previously raided by Kyle Katarn. His report was understated, to say the least. Imperial casualties were evidently very high. We have found only one terrified survivor, who is en route to Coruscant for questioning. At the risk of overstepping my bounds, I humbly request that agent Katarn be prohibited from undertaking further intelligence-gathering missions. He continues to exhibit a run-and-gun attitude and ask questions with his blaster. Additional report to follow once we interrogate our prisoner.

With all of these new NRI reports, we definitely are getting a good concept of how the JKII story will shape up!

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JediKnightII.net have 3 new screenshots online:

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The wait has finally ended. LucasArts has released the new Jedi Knight II trailer. You’ll need Quick Time to watch the movie, but it is definitely worth the time to download it. The trailer is incredible! the trailer doesn't have a very good quality and it isn't longer than one minute, but the content is something special.

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The 6th issue of Jedi Knotes is now out on the official LucasArts site. Written by Mike Gummelt, game programmer at Raven Software, it talks about enemy AI in Jedi Outcast. What he reveals about stormtrooper and Jedi AI sounds truly fascinating. Be sure to read the full article here.

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Here are 5 new JK2 screenshots, you can see the great graphical effects.

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Kenn Hoekstra has published the final page of his on going series on getting a job in the game industry. This one is titled, "Take Me There and Make Me a Part of It, Part III: Foot-in-the-door skills for the games industry and beyond". This seems to be written for someone who has a contact and a first interview in the works for a gaming company. Aht to expect, what to prepare and how to prepare it is discussed. You can find the article on CGOnline.

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As reported by The Doctor on Holodeck 5, Chapter 2 of the Elite Force mod Colony 7 is now out.

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The wait is almost over. Visit LucasArts.com this Friday to see the first game trailer and experience Jedi Outcast in action!
As a Lucas Online member, you can be first to see the trailer on Thursday evening. Pass the word and keep an eye on the site after 6:00 p.m. (PST).

I`ll upload this trailer on my site Jedi Outcast TH and on RavenGames.com on Thursday if I have the permission.

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4gamerz.de posted a preview of Jedi Outcast in German.

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RedTiger conducted a short interview with Kenn Hoekstra about success in the gaming industry. Check it out on SoFCenter.

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ReverendTed on PlanetSoldier reports a SoF2 preview in Italian. Read it on Eventhorizon.it.

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Jm099xr has posted a detailed tutorial on Elite Force skinning for beginners, it's definitely worth checking out.
(thanks Holodeck 5)

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GamesFirst! posted a review of the PS2 version of Soldier of Fortune Gold.
(thanks PlanetSoldier)

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Reaper on PlanetSoldier reports about another new SoF2 mod, named "Platoon". The team is led by Phantomas whose SoF mod The Green Wall was one of the most popular ones.

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Fragoff.net posted a new Jedi Knight II interview with Brett Tosti and Kenn Hoekstra. Among other things, they mention there'll be environmental interaction in abundance, which is good news. They also confirmed March 2002 as release date. Read the interview here.

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From the .plan files of Kenn Hoekstra....

Sunday, February 3rd, 2002 - Today is my Five Year Anniversary with Raven Software. Five years ago today I started work with a PPRO 200 with 128 MB of RAM and a 2GB hard drive with a copy of Windows 95 and 3D Studio Max 1.2. I'd never seen the real Internet before, only muds and a vax at UW-Whitewater.

A month or so after I started, Jon Zuk and I got Monster 3D Voodoo1 cards from Best Buy and proceeded to put colored lighting into a Raven title for the first time. God, has it been that long? I can hardly believe it...

At that time, we were working on Take No Prisoners, MageSlayer and Hexen II for Red Orb, GT Interactive and Activision. Raven consisted of about 25 people, all of which actually fit around the table and in the chairs of our main conference room.

In the five years since I started, I've watched the building expand twice and the team expand to 60 people. We released those three games we were working on, were bought by Activision and we went on to produce Portal of Praevus, Heretic II, Soldier of Fortune (+Gold and Platinum), Elite Force, Elite Force Expansion Pack and we're closing in on the completion of Jedi Outcast and Soldier 2 with two more titles waiting in the wings.

My machine today has upgraded by 10 times the MHZ, 3 processors, 4 times the RAM, 40 times the hard drive space, 16 times the video memory, four versions of MAX and five or six OS's.

I had just watched the Packers beat the Patriots in Superbowl XXXI and now, five years later, I'm about to go home and watch another Superbowl (featuring the Patriots, no less).

It's been a good five years. Here's looking at five more...

Yes, Kenn, here's to 5 more wonderful years.

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Exit Hit Squad, a Soldier of Fortune clan, moved in at RavenGames. Be sure to check out their site.

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As reported by Demolisher on raven-games.com, info on a new Collector's Edition of Jedi Outcast surfaced. It comes in a 4-color collectible tin, containing not only the upcoming title, but also the original Jedi Knight and the even cooler Dark Forces (plus a Jedi Outcast keychain, duh). You can already pre-order it at EBgames for 10 bucks more than the standard Jedi Knight II box.

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Michael Raymond-Judy was the Assistant - Lead - Designer from "Jedi Outcast" and now he goes away :(

Here his statement from the Raven BBS:

Well, rather than having to deal with leaks and rumors and last-minute disclosure fallout, I will just say up front that I will be leaving Raven at the end of February. I have loved every minute (OK, well, EVERY MINUTE might be an exaggeration, no matter how great it's been...) of my almost nine years here, and leaving was a surprise to me as well since I thought *nothing* could pry me loose from here, but an opportunity has come along for me which I just can't pass up. I'd rather not get into details right away about what the new job will entail, but I can say I'll be working at another game company called Destineer Studios in Minneapolis, and at least part of the job will be the same sort of things I do for Raven - and then some.

Cu Michael, you`ve done good work!

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Gwynhala released a plugin set for Adobe PhotoShop, with the help of which you can create Heretic II's .m8 (and also Quake II's .wal) files from within PhotoShop, without the need to convert them first with another application. For more info and the download link, see this thread on the raven-games.com forums.

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The New Republic Intelligence (NRI) corner of the official LucasArts site is giving you clues about the story of the upcoming game Jedi Outcast. In case you've already taken a look at it earlier, here goes to the latest update.

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There's a new SoF skin from {AKA} Ninja over at SoFCenter.

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As reported on PlanetSoldier, the site of the SoF2 mod Tomorrow Never Dies has been updated with new model shots and a poll. They're also still searching for people to help on the mod. If you're interested, just drop them a mail.

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Week 1 on the EF Community Map Pack Challenge begins today, entries will be accepted before the 4th March.

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Laz Rojas from Elite Farce released some new Elite Force stuff again. See Holodeck 5 for more info.

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As reported by The Doctor on Holodeck 5, the site of SpaceStation K7 is now online. To celebrate this launch, they also released the TOS weapons mod which you can get from FilePlanet.

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