Topic: UT3 Titan Pack revealed! March 5th, FREE!

[idolminds]

Eff yeah!

    * 16 environments - 4 Warfare, 3 vCTF, 6 Deathmatch, and 3 CTF maps – that are new to the PC and PS3 versions
    * Three bonus pack maps, CTF-Face, CTF-Searchlight and DM-Morbias (with preview pics)
    * The namesake Titan mutator, which lets players overwhelm opponents as a 15 foot tall titan, or crush them as a 30 foot tall Behemoth
    * Greed and Betrayal, two gametypes that breed new-found fervor throughout the competitive UT3 arena
    * Two powerful weapons, the Stinger Turret and Eradicator Cannon artillery
    * Two valuable deployables, the X-Ray Field and Link Station
    * The Slow Field power-up, a portable version of the Slow Field deployable
    * Stealthbender, a new vehicle that carries two spidermine trap deployables, one EMP mine, and one each of the new Link Station and X-Ray Field deployables
    * Two new characters, Nova and Kana (Liandri and Ronin, respectively)
    * 57 awards attainable as Steam Achievements and PS3 Trophies
    * Broad improvements for PC and PS3: Significant AI enhancements, especially in vehicle gametypes; networking performance upgrades; greatly improved menu flow and UI usability; better mod support
    * Client-side demo recording, highly improved Server Browser, a new maplist system, plus mid-game mutator and gametype voting functionality for PC
    * High demand PS3 features including PS3 Trophy support, two-player split-screen support, and mod browsing

Follow the link for details.

[Pugnate]

Makes me so glad I got it on steam for so cheap.

[idolminds]

I just went and reinstalled UT3. Partly because of this, and partly because I want to try some of the mods from the Make Something Unreal contest. Phase 2 winners were announced, and they look good.

Of course this also reminded me why I stopped playing. I don't have the newest patch. They don't have simple upgrade patches from previous versions, which means the patch is like 300MB. Damnit all. Might as well wait for the next big patch since I'd just have to download it all again anyway.

EDIT

According to Big Download, the patch/Titan Pack is going to be 800MB.

I know what I'm downloading at OWmeet.

[Quemaqua]

Good thing you're coming after it's released.

Man, what a pack.  That's really impressive.  I'm just a little bit excited.

[Pugnate]

Hopefully this will be enough to reinvigorate the community.

[Xessive]

Sweetness.

[MysterD]

Freakin' awesome.
Now I know why I play UT3 now and then -- and also why I left UT3 still installed.

I probably would've removed UT3 by now, if it didn't have this upcoming Titan Pack coming and all.

[Pugnate]

Freakin' awesome.
Now I know why I play UT3 now and then -- and also why I left UT3 still installed.

I probably would've removed UT3 by now, if it didn't have this upcoming Titan Pack coming and all.

So you never knew why you were randomly playing UT3?

[MysterD]

So you never knew why you were randomly playing UT3?

B/c it kicks ass.

With this Titan Pack, it's gonna be even more kick-ass.

[scottws]

Of course this also reminded me why I stopped playing. I don't have the newest patch. They don't have simple upgrade patches from previous versions, which means the patch is like 300MB. Damnit all. Might as well wait for the next big patch since I'd just have to download it all again anyway.

That's pretty much the norm these days.  I actually hate when I install a game and find out I have to download and install like three or four patches.  I'd much rather just grab the latest one and install once.  But yeah I have broadband so that makes it easy.  The unfortunately reality for you is that the world has basically forgotten about dial-up and left it behind.

I know you said that satellite sucks, but what about that Verizon cell phone Internet?  Is that any good?  Tons of my clients use it for their laptops, but then again it's just used mostly for e-mail and VPN connections to get their files and not online gaming.

[idolminds]

I checked, and that stuff is expensive (plus our verison cell phones dont have the best reception here anyway).

I mean, I understand having one large all inclusive patch so people can go from zero to playing easily. Even I like those patches. But to not even offer the incremental update from the previous patch? Why am I redownloading the same fucking maps over and over?

Heh, to go along with this I did some calculations. I noticed Steam, when it has an update, simply redownloads the entire client. Including the skins, which haven't been updated in ages. Its only 4MB, which is basically nothing to most Steam users. But Steam has 20 million users, so those 4 extra megabytes translates into 76 terabytes of data that needs to be transferred for no real reason. Every single time Steam has an update.

[W7RE]

No wonder my internets aren't arriving in a timely manner. Steam is loading up the internet like it's a big truck!

[idolminds]

Patch and Titan Pack are both out now.

[Xessive]

Frickin' frick! Sweet!

EDIT:
WOW. TOTAL OVERHAUL.

EDIT2:
Hmm, apparently Steam is giving a free weekend of UT3! It's now called Unreal Tournament 3 Black.

For shits and giggles I decided to try registering my UT3 CD key with Steam and it worked. I now have the Steam version of UT3. Not sure why I'd want it over the original.

[idolminds]

Can you still use the original after its been registered on Steam? If so, I'd try it just to get the achievements (for the hell of it). But I'm not registering it yet since I dont want it to stop me from playing without Steam.

[MysterD]

Not sure why I'd want it over the original.

Achievements.
Automatic updates done through Steam.

I think it depends on how much Epic Games decides to support UT3.
If they support The Steam version more so than the retail, then I'll turn my Retail into the Steam version.

I'm guessing if you do uninstall The Steam version, you probably can reinstall The Retail version (without Steam). I don't know.

Can you still use the original after its been registered on Steam? If so, I'd try it just to get the achievements (for the hell of it). But I'm not registering it yet since I dont want it to stop me from playing without Steam.

No clue...

...But when I installed Dark Messiah SP Retail in and it put it one folder (minus Steam) -- but then, I was given the option after it installed to put it over Steam -- and it basically MOVED those files directly into its own directory into the Steam folder and changed the EXE to the Steam version and added any other necessary Steam files to the mix.

I don't know if UT3 Retail works the same way as that or not, but if you want to turn it into the Steam version -- but I'd guess since you own the Retail version, at the very worst, you might be able to reinstall that version somewhere else on that same hard drive or a 2nd hard drive and have one version using Steam and one without it (as long as you have the space)? I don't know.

Also, I did have HL1 + Blue Shift installed (minus Steam; original versions from Sierra) and when I joined Steam and added those CD Keys to the Steam list, it didn't MOVE the files -- it COPIED them over to the Steam folder. So, I had HL1 + Blue Shift installed on the same drive twice -- one with Steam, one without it.

So, I guess it depends on the game company? I don't know.

[gpw11]

Does the Steam version of UT3 have achievements?  I don't know if i'll install this new pack.  It mainly depends on if i even still have the game.

[MysterD]

Does the Steam version of UT3 have achievements?  I don't know if i'll install this new pack.  It mainly depends on if i even still have the game.

I can't say myself b/c I haven't installed it over Steam yet...

But it is worth noting UT3: Black Edition (includes UT3 + The Titan Pack) on sale over Steam for $11.99 currently lists there are "57 Awards attainable as Steam Achievements."

That word "Awards", the way they wrote that...it makes me wonder if the game can register these "Awards" with the Retail Version of the game (without transferring your Retail Copy over to a Steam version).

If "Achievements" were a Steam-only thing, you'd figure that would've been mentioned...So, no clue if you get "Awards/Achievements" with Steam only or on BOTH versions of the game.

[Xessive]

The achievements, referred to in UT3 as "awards," are attainable in both the Steam and non-steam version.

The Steam version is treated as a separate game almost, it's stored in the Steam directory and deals with its own files with no reference to the original version if you have it installed it.

Having it on Steam just kinda adds Steams multiplayer capacity and auto-updating. Of course Steam is its own form of DRM as oppose to the DRM-free original UT3.

[MysterD]

Good.
With Achievements in BOTH versions, more reason to not hook my Retail Copy up to Steam.

[Quemaqua]

So this is pretty cool.  The injection of new crap really breathes new life into the game, and the new maps all seem to be great thus far.  I also like Greed (haven't tried the other new mode).  It's sort of a... reverse CTF with a more tactical feel.  You could almost say a sort of TDM-ish CTF.  Focus is more on combat since you have to kill people to get points, but then you have to turn those points in at the enemy base, lending it the CTF quality.  It's pretty interesting, and very fast and fun.

I haven't tried nearly all the new maps yet, but the ones I did try were all as good or better than the ones the game shipped with.  They look gorgeous as expected, and most of them seem to play really well so far.

So yeah, no complaints at all.  For a free pack, this really does reinvigorate the game, and having some achievement-style things will help too.  If you've left off of the game for a while or never tried it, now's a really good time.  There's a ton of content here now, and all polished to a mirror shine.

EDIT - If anybody wants to play, we should give this a try.  If you don't have the game, it's cheap as hell now (and still perfectly viable -- it plays great and looks ungodly amounts of pretty), and if you do, the new stuff is good times.  I'll have to get back to getting it set up to run a server again, but hopefully I can find that old thread and figure out what it was I did.

[MysterD]

I installed the Patch 2.0 and Titan Pack yesterday, before I went to visit my Aunt's.
Didn't get a chance to check it out, since by the time I got home (like around 10:30pm), I was so tired, so I went to bed.

So, yeah -- I'll be checkin' this out probably today and whatnot.

Hope to see some of y'all playing this, these next few days and whatnot.

EDIT:
Que, that new Greed Mode is freakin' awesome.

EDIT #2 -- For Que:

I'll have to get back to getting it set up to run a server again, but hopefully I can find that old thread and figure out what it was I did.

Is this the thread, Que?

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, that's the one.

[Xessive]

The only way I've ever been able to start a proper UT3 server was using UT3 WebAdmin.

It seems complicated at first but it's relatively easy to use and quite handy.

[idolminds]

So last weekend Steam/Epic did a free weekend for UT3. Anyone that wanted to try the game was able to download the full game and play it all weekend for free.

Sadly for UT3, Steam basically puked all over the whole thing due to the load. Many people couldn't get it downloaded by the time the weekend was over.

So they are extending the sale price and are going to have another free weekend this weekend. You can preload the game now so hopefully people can have it in time.

[MysterD]

RockPaperShotgun has an article on the revival of UT3, thanks to Epic and Steam.

Unreal Tournament 3 And The New Lazarus Effect
Written by Alec Meer on March 16, 2009 at 11:26 pm.

We probably should have talked more about what’s been going on with Unreal Tournament 3 over the last couple of weeks. Why didn’t we? Because it’s not a game any of us feel particularly strongly about one way or another, and from earlier comments it didn’t look like you lot did either. Having a famous name and being reasonably fun is no longer enough for a technically adept but fundamentally unambitious multiplayer shooter to grab the attention it once would have done.

Last weekend, that changed dramatically. Unreal Tournament is back, baby, back. And no matter how you or we or anyone else might personally feel about UT3, its unexpected resurgence may signal colossal change for PC games.

The popular perception is that UT3 bombed. Did it? Well, at first it certainly seemed as much - reportedly it shifted just 33,995 US copies during its first month on sale. Epic later claimed that it had shipped 1.2 million copies worldwide in four months, but that includes the US PS3 release and, of course, ’shipped’ and ’sold’ are far from the same. While there was probably a good deal of exaggeration from both sides of the debate, certainly the half-decade old Unreal Tournament 2004 continued to enjoy a visibly larger regular playerbase than its higher-tech sequel.

Now, traditionally it’s the case that when a multiplayer game stumbles, it doesn’t get back up again. UT3 seemed destined to go gently into that good night, save for the occasional antagonistic comment about PC gaming from Cliffy “Cliffy B” B and Mark Rein. And yet, as we coast into the Spring of 2009, a game released in 2007 is suddenly the talk of town all over again. On the weekend before last, its players jumped by some 2000%.

The key to it all was taking a leaf out of Valve’s book. There may not be such a thing as a free lunch, but that truism doesn’t mean hungry folk won’t turn up in droves if you stick up a poster promising complimentary punch and pie. The Team Fortress 2 free weekends, many timed to coincide with major updates, drew hordes of players who were delighted to get something for nothing. Come the end of each weekend, a fair few were charmed enough to splash out for a permanent copy of the game.

Epic have done exactly that with UT3, releasing a major patch (complete with new maps and modes as well as more fundamental changes based on player feedback) then offering it free via Steam to all comers for a long weekend. Once the first free weekend was over, its 2000% extra players didn’t all disappear - the game (heavily discounted) jumped straight to the top of Steam’s bestseller list. It did so well that there’s just been another free weekend, though observers reckon that’s partially by way of apology to the people who, as a result of higher-than-anticipated interest, couldn’t download the game first time around. Who knows if it’ll truly reverse UT3’s long-term fortunes, but it’s almost definitely earned a big pile of money from a game we all thought had died in the water a year ago.

It’s an incredible precedent to set: making a game a success almost 18 months after a poor launch. It’s something that could only have happened now, and with a system like Steam. Something that can go far beyond a mere demo by delivering a complete game straight to your hard drive and automatically deactivating it at the distributor’s discretion. Something that silently updates a purchase with patches and extra content automatically, so you don’t have to make the decision to seek out some exciting new feature: it’s just there anyway. Something that, if you don’t already own it, advertises that game to you at an agreeably reduced price whenever it loads. Something that enjoys a vast community who are in turn plugged into a sea of smaller relevant communities.

It’s incredibly sinister. It’s also incredibly exciting. UT3 may never be a cult classic - or indeed any sort of classic - but it’s no longer a failure. Think about what this could mean for other, better future games in similar danger of being lost to uncaring history. There is now a mechanism to save them: if something with as negative a reputation as UT3 can come back from the dead, surely anything can. The next Planescape: Torment or Beyond Good & Evil will be less of a risk, less of a tragedy waiting to happen. It’s not Steam or Impulse specifically as much as it is game distributors finally realising how to leverage the internet, and that a game doesn’t stop existing once its initial print run disappears from store shelves. Game retail and traditional advertising alike have never seemed such dinosaurs.

I mean, really. How any other platform could possibly think it can rival PC gaming’s staggeringly vast, fast-evolving, hyper-connected community in the long-term is beyond me.

[Quemaqua]

/ragequit