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Why Robin Makes Batman Better Today and the rest of the weekend is a wee-bit convention heavy. We’re simultaneously covering the 2007 QuakeCon, BlizzCon and Fan Faire. The news seems to be chugging along pretty steadily, so if you want to track just what’s happening at your con of choice click the appropriate link below, or you can just catch them as they hit the main page.
Beta 2.0 for Enemy Territories: Quake Wars is going live today. The new beta will include a new map, wider access and plenty of extra features:
• New Map: Valley (temperate climate, GDF-offensive map) • Wider Access: All current ETQW Fileplanet Beta participants, plus an additional first-come/first-serve 20K participants will be eligible to join • Offline play against the computer mode added • Improvements to bots, game physics, audio and game interface • Punkbuster added • LAN game support added • Player statistics tracking and leaderboards added at http://stats.enemyterritory.com • Unranked server support included
Get it while it’s hot over at File Planet.
Mail your QuakeCon photos to pics@kotaku.com and they will automagically appear in this photo gallery. Make sure to put quakecon07 and only quakecon07 in the subject line so they show up in the right place. Also, anything you put in the body of the message, besides the picture, will show up as the cutline. And yes, I will be checking each and everyone before it goes live. So no goatse! Not even… um, just no goatse.
This year’s QuakeCon kicked off at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas today with crowds expected to reach 6,000. Although the John Carmack keynote and press conference doesn’t hit until Friday night, the Bring-Your-Own-Computer folks have already set up and tourney check in is well underway. The assorted tournaments will get under way this afternoon, with some running through till Saturday night.
“We look forward to QuakeCon every year as an opportunity to have a great time partying and playing id games with our fans,” said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software. “QuakeCon’s continuing popularity is a credit to the dedication of our volunteers and grass-roots support of sponsors and exhibitors; and the fans’ enthusiastic and passionate response to our big announcements is inspiring.”
id will be giving away 3,000 VIP keys to the upcoming Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars Beta 2.0 and their are even a number of booths packed in with all of the PCs in the 25,000-square-foot exhibit area. NVIDIA, Activision, Antec, Armadillo Aerospace, Bgears, DeVry University, Dust-Off, EA Mobile, FSP Group USA, GameRail, The Guildhall at SMU, Ideazon, IN WIN, iZ3D, MSI, PNY Technologies, proGAM3R magazine, Patriot Memory, steelseries, Tritton, Turtle Rock Studios with Valve Software, and Wintec Industries will on be on hand to show off their wares, both hard and soft.
QuakeCon 2007 kicks off today, and Philips is there to demonstrate how well their amBX ambient experiences technology gets along with Quake 4. They’ve set up a multiplayer demo of a mod for the game created by their amBX team in order to take full advantage of all the system has to offer. As players run and jump they’ll feel the wind in their hair, experience the jolt of landing. Weapons will have recoil and various custom effects, bullets will have impact, and blood will spatter in all its red LED glory. They’ve even set up the mod so that the light dims behind you when you use a weapon’s sights, simulating sniper focus. Perhaps they’ll be able to reverse the air peripherals to create a sucking effect for the losing team. That’s full immersion right there. It really sounds like they’ve gone all out to make the most of the demo, so if you really want to see the full potential of the amBX technology, you’ve got until the 4th to make your way to Dallas and give it a go.
