From id CEO Todd Hollenshead’s .plan file:

“So, the next question is release dates. Retailers in the States will be allowed to pick up games starting at 12:01 AM on August 3rd. The official street date is actually August 5th in the U.S.A., but some of your favorite stores will probably have it early for those of you who have to have it first. Check with your local retailer for that information.”

Its been a couple days since we’ve seen a post. Must be a busy group of monkeys out there.

At any rate, I have noticed lately, that while I’m not the most sporty person out there, I have noticed that I have excellent reflexes. For example: Lets say I knock over a toothpaste tube on my sink as I shuffle around in the morning. Like some kind of super-human My arm is out and catching the tube before my brain even realized whats up. And this kind of thing seems to happen alot. Im not claiming I’m some amazing athlete or anything.. far from it, but I do feel that I have good reflexes.

I began to wonder if gaming has honed my reflexes.

So.. curiously.. anyone else out there think they have good reflexes? Bad ones?

Well over the weekend my curiosity got the better of me, so I installed the Doom III demo onto my rig. This demo consisted of 8 playable levels but lacks ATI driver support each level must be loaded via the in game command line.
Here are my thoughts on what I played (I am keeping in mind this was a DEMO)
First off Doom III looks great, we have all seen the screens and they are accurate, eye candy a plenty in this game. There are some amazing cuts scenes integrated into the game play that is jaw dropping being rendered by the engine.
Now here is where it goes down hill, (yeah i know that did not take long). The Monsters are cool looking and scary as they should be and I did jump at one point because I was surprised! After that it got old. Run around a corner surprise monster! eeeeeeeek! Rinse and repeat.
There is a feeling of claustrophobia when playing this game, I am a big fan of Far Cry the one thing I love about that game is the open feeling you get when you can take ANY approach to a level you want. In Doom 3 you have hallway after hallway. At one point I felt as if I should have a light gun instead of a keyboard and mouse.
I hope that when the game is finished there will be some areas to explore and some open terrain.
The AI in this Demo is something I have to address, its just plain bad. Now granted they probably were/are working on the engine and other things other and the AI, but I was able to walk up to Monsters and shoot them in the face after waiting 3 sec’s. Also I basically waved at an enemy to come down a hallway so I could ambush them. I waited and waited and waited they did not want to follow me.
I know this is a game a lot of people have been waiting for, myself included. However when I play a demo I know then and there if I will be buying a game @ release or not.
Doom III is not a game I will pick up at launch. The game just does not set itself apart to me. Far Cry set the bar for next gen FPS’ the feeling I have is Doom 3 meets the bar.
All in all I enjoyed playing it, but it was a dose of reality for me. I encourage people to get out there and find this demo; make the call on your own.
Happy Gaming All.

Tested on “m0nk3y”
AMD 3000+ @ 2.16
1024 mb @ 2700
ATI 9800 pro (latest drivers)

It is a very sad day in game land today. Another sweet looking title has been canned. I was really looking forward to this title. Why it was canned, who knows. Thier reason for why makes no sense. UXO was intended to be a new rebirth for the UO franchise. All I can say is, I’m hoping whatever resources that shift to the UO branded game, can just re-birth that game to a modern era.

June 30, 2004

Dear Ultima X: Odyssey community members,

As of today, development on Ultima X: Odyssey has ended. We feel that Ultima Online is where we need to focus our online efforts and most of my team will be moving to the UO expansion pack, the UO live team, and an unannounced Ultima Online project. Development on UO will be greatly enhanced as we consolidate our resources behind that franchise.

This isn’t an easy decision but it’s the right move for the future of all things Ultima, including the community and the team. We look forward to sharing our plans for the future of Ultima Online very soon.

I would like to thank all of the Ultima X: Odyssey supporters who have been with us from the beginning. I hope you will continue to support the Ultima franchise and the development team as they transition to new projects.

Thank you,
David “InQWis” Yee
Producer, Ultima X: Odyssey