Valve's 16 October Team Fortress 2 update changes Holyhell and six Zombie Infection maps. The patch installs automatically when the game is restarted.

Holyhell's round timer is reduced to five minutes, with shorter respawn waves. The team that loses the middle point gains respawning spells on its side, while gargoyles now spawn near middle. The map also receives visual fixes and optimisation work.

Zombie Pyro's melee damage rises from 45 to 65. Sticky Spew applies a 20% movement slow, with another 20% while standing in its enlarged puddles. Pyro's death explosion now deals 50 damage and causes afterburn.

Zombie Sniper's Spit cooldown falls from nine seconds to six. Other fixes address invisible player models in DirectX 8, Zombie Engineer beacon placement, excessive Zombie Spy damage and slow movement after using abilities.

Source: Valve patch notes.

ESIC announced on 16 October that Palkovics "2xplayN" Tamas is banned for life from covered ESIC and member competitions in any capacity, replacing the three-year suspension imposed in the NOMERCY match-manipulation case.

The revised sanction follows public posts showing apparent cash alongside comments about the findings, betting payouts and a return to competition. ESIC found that his conduct during suspension constituted further integrity breaches. The lifetime ban removes his previously scheduled April 2029 return, with no cooperation-based reduction applied to the new sanction.

ESIC explicitly stated that the photographs alone do not establish that the money shown came from match-fixing. The commission also said it would refer the sanctioned conduct to Valve, government agencies and law enforcement.

Source: ESIC.

Valve has introduced achievement sets in the Steam client beta, allowing developers to group achievements for a game's base campaign, DLC, seasons or other content separately.

Each set tracks its own completion progress. In games that adopt the feature, additional DLC or seasonal achievements can sit outside the base-game set, so players can retain that set's 100% completion without earning every later addition.

The redesigned achievements page brings progress information together and allows direct comparisons with up to three friends at once. Support depends on developers organising their games' achievements into sets; the change does not automatically separate every game's existing list.

The feature is currently available through the Steam client beta.

Sources: Valve announcements, PC Gamer.

Bloodrun's 16 October build adds Slash as a playable gladiator, bringing Crouch Slide and Plasma Trail from her Quake Champions counterpart.

Holding crouch on landing starts a slide that preserves movement speed. Her active ability lays a damaging plasma trail, with three seconds to place it and another three seconds to trigger its explosion. Bots can also use both abilities.

The update refreshes four arenas and adds a HUD arc near the crosshair to show ability information, including Slash's slide charge and Angel's countdown to invisibility. A new Setup > Gladiators section provides ability effect settings.

Existing players can install the build through the Bloodrun launcher.

Sources: Bloodrun changelog, Plus Forward.

Strongsage won Estoty Duel Tournament #222 in Quake Champions on 16 October, beating k1llsen 3-1 in the grand final. It is his 14th title in the series and his first since #219.

Strongsage beat baSe 2-0 in the upper semifinals, then defeated k1llsen 2-0 in the winners final. k1llsen returned to the final with a 2-0 win over baSe, who finished third, but lost the rematch against Strongsage.

Strongsage remains fourth on the series' all-time winners list, behind baSe with 70 titles, RAISY with 47 and Keltz with 33.

Source: Plus Forward.

The US Doom and Quake Community will host a one-day QuakeWorld 2v2 tournament on Saturday, 24 October.

The format is double elimination, with best-of-one matches and a best-of-three grand final to keep the cup within one evening. Maps are assigned by round. The pool is Ultrav, ZTNDM3, Aerowalk, Bravado and DM2.

Signups are through the community's Discord; see the organiser's announcement for the signup link.

Source: US Doom and Quake Community announcement.

Church of Quake will run an online Quake Champions 4v4 Sacrifice Tournament Edition cup on Saturday, 24 October. Players sign up individually, then captains select teams through a snake draft. The advertised prize pool is $150.

The first 32 signups are guaranteed places, making eight teams. Further signups go on reserve unless the field reaches 64, allowing sixteen teams.

The bracket is double elimination. Upper-bracket matches and the lower final are best of three, other lower-bracket matches best of one, and the grand final best of five.

Players must join the Church of Quake Discord. Coverage is planned on the community's Twitch channel, and other casters are welcome to contact the organisers.

Links: Sign up, Twitch.

Source: Church of Quake, including Discord and current signup links.

k1llsen won EGB QC Cup #11 on 11 October, beating dramiS 3-2 in the grand final. Sixteen players took part in the online Quake Champions tournament. The $75 pool paid $60 to k1llsen and $15 to dramiS.

k1llsen did not lose a series. He beat creeep_06487 2-0, NRAV 2-0 and St0n3 2-1 before taking the winners final against dramiS 2-0. dramiS returned through the lower final with a 2-1 win over cYpheR, then lost the rematch. cYpheR finished third and Yup fourth.

It is k1llsen's fifth title in the EGB Quake Champions duel series. Keltz and Strongsage have three each.

Source: Plus Forward results, report.

Frontier One Map Cup #1 will take place in Quake Live on 24 October. The tournament uses one new map throughout, with its name and practice servers due to be released on 19 October so everyone has the same preparation time.

Registration is open on the Frontier website. The prize pool has not yet been announced. Cyber, Input and Steemorol are organising the event, with coverage planned on cyb3rway's Twitch channel.

Links: Registration, Twitch, Frontier Telegram.

Source: 250FPS.

Valve released a Steam client update on 13 October with improved startup performance and new options for Big Picture mode. The update downloads automatically.

Big Art Mode adds a larger artwork presentation to the home screen and can be enabled under Settings > Home. The Recommended tab also gains the Personal Calendar.

Big Picture now supports screensavers under Settings > Customization. The default slideshow can display artwork from recently played games and recent screenshots. A bouncing Steam logo is the other built-in option, and custom screensavers are supported too.

The update also changes startup behaviour so the Steam main window avoids taking focus if another window was activated during startup or login, and fixes the onscreen keyboard failing to work on its first desktop invocation.

Sources: Valve - Steam Client Update, October 13, PC Gamer.

The Thunderpick World Championship 2026 began in Malta on 14 October, with eight CS2 teams competing for a $1 million combined player and club prize pool. The event runs through 18 October.

All four opening series ended 2-0: 9z beat Aurora, Falcons beat Ninjas in Pyjamas, Legacy beat PARIVISION and FURIA beat BETBOOM.

On 15 October, Falcons beat 9z 2-1 to secure a playoff place. Aurora stayed alive by beating NIP 2-0, eliminating the Swedish organisation's team from the event.

The group stage uses two four-team double-elimination groups, with two teams from each advancing. Group matches and playoff semifinals are best of three; the grand final is best of five. The winners receive $500,000, split equally between player prize money and the club share.

Sources: HLTV event guide, opening-day results, Falcons qualify, NIP eliminated, Liquipedia, PR Newswire.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches on 23 October as a separate purchase and will not be included with Game Pass at launch. Activision confirmed on 15 October that Game Pass availability is planned for Holiday 2027.

Digital pre-orders include campaign early access from 16 October and DMZ early access from 20 October. Existing Call of Duty titles, including Black Ops 7, Black Ops 6 and Modern Warfare III, remain available to Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.

Sources: Activision, GamesRadar.

Epic released a preview of its rebuilt Epic Games Launcher on 14 October for Windows, macOS and, for the first time, Linux. It includes a redesigned library, connections to other PC game libraries and more detailed download management.

Epic describes the client as "vibe coded" and claims a cold start to the store is 46% faster than Steam. That is Epic's comparison, not an independent benchmark here. The client is still a preview with a limited feature set.

Fortnite is not available on Linux yet. Epic is rebuilding its anti-cheat implementation as EAC Linux v2 and working with distribution maintainers before bringing the game over. Fortnite will be the first pilot, with support for other developers to follow after validation.

The requirements include TPM 2.0, Secure Boot and signed kernels and modules. EAC Linux v2 uses existing kernel security features, eBPF and a service active during protected games, rather than installing its own kernel module. Steam Deck does not currently meet the requirements; Epic says it is talking with Valve about future support.

Sources: Epic Games Store, Epic Online Services, PC Gamer.

Richard "Levelord" Gray, the level designer known for Duke Nukem 3D, Quake: Scourge of Armagon and SiN, has died. Apogee Entertainment announced his death on 13 October.

Gray joined the Duke Nukem 3D team after making Doom maps. After Duke shipped in 1996, he co-founded Hipnotic Interactive, later renamed Ritual Entertainment. His subsequent credits included Star Trek: Elite Force II and Counter-Strike: Condition Zero.

Apogee founder Scott Miller recalled hiring Gray after seeing his Doom levels, and paid tribute to his talent, dedication and willingness to help other designers. John Romero was among the developers who also paid tribute.

Sources: Apogee Entertainment, PC Gamer.

Rules
- Lightning gun only, infinite ammo, no pickups.
- Hits heat the target instead of damaging it. At full heat the target gibs. Default: 20 consecutive hits (~1 s).
- Heat drains quickly once the beam is off.
- Heat is shown as a shell on the target and a bar under the crosshair.
- Tuning: g_heatPerHit, g_heatCoolDelay, g_heatCoolRate.

Play
ioquake3 +set fs_game lgtrain +map q3dm6 +addbot sarge 2

Requires ioquake3 and retail Quake 3 data.
Download: github.com/amaslakov/lgtrain/releases
Source: github.com/amaslakov/lgtrain

Online play works, but there is no lag compensation.
Based on rx-mikkel's instagib fork. Feedback welcome.

Download Link

This is a modern Quake 3 engine to play and host Quake III Arena mods, delivering fixes and updates over years.

Key features:
* Countless usability, netcode, security, performance, memory usage improvements
* Optimized OpenGL renderer
* Optimized Vulkan renderer
* Unified physics between 32 and 64-bit systems, minimized mispredictions with original VQ3
* SOTA-level fast and secure QVM implementation for x86/x86_64, armv7l/aarch64, powerpc64 platforms
* Best-performer from legacy hardware to modern systems with Vulkan support
* No fake frames, No RT, no DLSS and similar disrupting and performance tanking stuff
* Can still run on Win98, widest possible OS compatibility is an explicit intent

I wouldn't bother to do even brief listing of hundreds of changes being made since last announcement, just visit download link and leave your questions/suggestions/code, as usual.

Support Ukraine

Not sure where else to go with that stupid idea but,

@elonmusk DeepMind beat StarCraft and Quake 3 CTF, but nobody has ever dared to build an AI for the ultimate 1v1 psychological chess match: Quake Duel. Limit Grok's aim and reaction time to human pro levels and let it face @liquidrapha on Blood Run / Campgrounds. As an OG Quake player yourself – can xAI solve 1v1 Arena FPS?“

Like I would definitely watch that match. Also feel free to adjust the message.

AMD says FSR 4 will reach APUs, gaming laptops, and handhelds by the end of 2026. Jack Huynh, who runs the company's computing and graphics group, told Korean press, including The Elec, that the machine-learning upscaler is moving off discrete cards and onto the rest of the lineup.

The plan is two tracks. Existing APUs get a lighter model built for integrated graphics. New APUs, still not named, are meant to run FSR 4 natively. Huynh said the light model is aimed at image quality and low latency on chips that cannot carry the desktop version.

FSR 4 launched on RDNA 4 desktop cards. RDNA 3 desktop cards picked it up later. Official support for RDNA 2 desktop cards, the same generation as the Steam Deck, was already set for 2027, and this briefing did not say that date moved. Valve has talked about FSR 4 on the Steam Machine. It has not committed the Steam Deck.

Source: The Verge

Cloud Imperium Games put Squadron 42 on Steam on 10 October. Wishlists are open. The page lists a planned release of Q2 2027, and no price. Chris Roberts moved the target out of late 2026 so the single-player game would not land in the same window as Grand Theft Auto VI.

It is a standalone story in the Star Citizen setting, year 2945, on StarEngine. You enlist as a rookie in the UEE Navy, live on a capital ship, and the brief is space combat, fighting on foot, stealth, and time with the crew. The cast, on performance capture, includes Mark Hamill, Gary Oldman, Gillian Anderson, Henry Cavill, Ben Mendelsohn, and Andy Serkis. The game has been in development for more than a decade.

The Steam minimum is Windows 11, a quad-core back to an Intel Sandy Bridge i7 or an AMD Bulldozer, 16 GB of RAM, a DirectX 11.1 card with 8 GB of VRAM, and 150 GB of disk. The recommended column only says a 64-bit processor and operating system.

Source: Steam and Eurogamer

Richard Garriott says the Ultima copyrights return to him in 2027. He sold Origin Systems, and the series with it, to Electronic Arts in 1992. The last mainline game was Ultima IX in 1999.

US copyright law lets an author terminate a transfer 35 years later. No money changes hands. The author has to give a year's notice. Garriott says he wrote to EA in April and told them he was taking the copyrights back. They wrote back that they know the law and will act accordingly. He says the two sides are now in active talks about whether there is anything to do together before the date.

What he says he could do, once the copyrights are his, is re-release the earlier Ultimas or make a sequel. Neither is a project yet. He has most of a year to decide what the return actually means.

Source: VGC

Photo: Richard Garriott at the 2018 Game Developers Conference, by Game Developers Conference, CC BY 2.5, resized. Wikimedia Commons.

A full playable build of Grand Theft Auto VI is not public. The person or group posting as Cyberleek says that can change.

On 10 October they posted an offer. If a memecoin tied to the name hits a $30 million market cap, "the build goes out - full story mode, played to the end, credits and all." Take-Two can stop it, the post says, with physical discs and a public apology. No outlet has the file, and Rockstar and Take-Two have not answered this one.

Footage under the same name has been out since 18 August. Rockstar called those clips heartbreaking on 26 August and kept the 19 November release. This week the account was credited with about 25 minutes more, including first-person driving and mission scenes. Rockstar has not said that newer cut is theirs.

The disc demand is aimed at a decision Rockstar already made. Boxed copies ship with a download code, not a disc. Strauss Zelnick has compared discs for a game this size to vinyl. Standard is $80, Ultimate is $100, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Preload starts 12 November.

Take-Two subpoenaed Microsoft, Discord, Google, and X in August while it looked for who had the footage.

Source: Forbes and GamesIndustry.biz

k1llsen won Estoty Duel Tournament #221 on 9 October, beating baSe 3-2 in the grand final. 18 players, online. The $100 pool paid $40 to k1llsen, $25 to baSe, $15 to Keltz, $10 to maxter, and $5 each to St0n3 and Thri11er.

Double elimination: best of three up top, best of one in the lower bracket, best of five in the final. The map pool was Awoken, Blood Covenant, Blood Run, Corrupted Keep, Ruins of Sarnath, The Molten Falls and Vale of Pnath.

k1llsen beat 1eroy 2-0. His winners-bracket match against baSe is scored -1:0. From the lower bracket he beat PepCo 1-0, Artemka 1-0, St0n3 1-0 and maxter 1-0, then beat Keltz 2-1 in the lower final.

baSe reached the final without a series loss, including a 2-1 over maxter and a 2-0 over Keltz, and started the grand final a map ahead. k1llsen won three of the four maps played and took the series 3-2. It is his fifth Estoty title. baSe still leads that list with 70. Keltz finished third, maxter fourth.

Strongsage came in as the top seed, rated 2441, and finished 13th. His matches against Coffee by Tomo and PepCo are both scored -1.

Source: Toornament

Keltz won NAQCL Duel Tournament #76 on 10 October, beating maxter 3-0 in the grand final. 12 players, online, ping uncapped. The $100 pool paid $50 to Keltz, $30 to maxter and $20 to dramiS.

Double elimination: best of three, best of one in the lower bracket, best of five in the final.

klyb's winners-bracket opener is scored 0:-1. Keltz then beat Yup 2-1 and dramiS 2-0, and closed the final in three maps.

maxter beat Rohm 2-0 and lost the winners semi 0-2 to dramiS. His lower-bracket matches against Thri11er and Yup are both scored -1. He beat dramiS 2-1 in the lower final and lost the rematch 0-3. dramiS finished third. Yup was fourth. St0n3 and Thri11er were joint fifth.

The title is Keltz's 14th, and his fourth win in the last five. He won #72, #73 and #74. Strongsage ended that run at #75 on 3 October, 3-0 in the final. dramiS still leads the series with 32 titles. Strongsage has 11, and was absent from the #76 field.

Source: Church of Quake

AGENT won EGB Cup #71 on 10 October, beating ash 3-1 in the grand final. 12 players, online. The pool paid $55: $44 to AGENT, $11 to ash.

Double elimination. Upper-bracket matches were best of three, lower-bracket matches best of one. The final went to four maps.

AGENT did not drop a series. He beat rell 2-0, k1llsen 2-0 and cYpheR 2-0, then took the final 3-1.

ash beat pavel 2-0 and lost the winners semi 0-2 to cYpheR. From the lower bracket he beat cherepoff 1-0 and k1llsen 1-0, then beat cYpheR 2-0 in the lower final. cYpheR finished third, k1llsen fourth. cherepoff and dazator were joint fifth. pavel and rell were joint seventh.

The map pool was Aerowalk, Battleforged, Bloodrun, Delirium, Furious Heights, House of Decay, Silence, Sinister and Toxicity.

This is AGENT's second cup in a row, and his fifth win in the last six regular Quake Live duel cups. He won #65, #66, #67 and #70. cYpheR won #68. Cup #69 was TDM 2v2, won by pavel and Nitrino.

Source: EGB

Fog won 250 FPS Season 6 Qualifier 3 on 11 October, beating dazator 3-0 in the grand final. The prize is a Division 1 slot, the third of four.

17 players, online. Double elimination: best of one in the lower bracket, best of three in the upper bracket, best of five in the final. The map pool was Aerowalk, Battleforged, Bloodrun, Cure, Delirium, Furious Heights, Hektik, Lost World, Silence, Sinister and Toxicity.

Fog did not drop a map. He beat BLR_BY 2-0, Radist_dk 2-0, fire_bot 2-0 and dazator 2-0, then closed the final 3-0.

dazator beat STING 2-0, St0n3 2-0 and rell 2-1, lost the winners final, and beat fire_bot 2-1 in the lower final. The rematch was over in three maps. fire_bot finished third. rell was fourth: 2-1 down to dazator in the winners semi, then 0-1 to fire_bot on the way back.

Fog missed the Season 5 top eight. He went out 9th-12th in qualifier 1 on 27 September and finished third in qualifier 2 on 4 October, where ARSENY beat him 2-1 in the winners final.

Eleven of the twelve Division 1 places are filled. Fog joins H3LLDOWN, ARSENY and the eight invites: AGENT, cYpheR, k1llsen, cherepoff, pavel, ash, baksteen and Spart1e. Qualifier 4 is on 18 October.

Source: EGB

id Software will add a free Slaughter Mode to DOOM: The Dark Ages - Revelations in November. Game director Hugo Martin announced it on the 1 October Slayers Club Live. There is still no day inside the month. It is free for Revelations owners, and it is not in the base game.

A run is endless and single-player. Rounds escalate, and the demons, bosses, and arenas are randomized. The mode keeps a personal best by score and by round reached. id said it has no backend, so there is no global leaderboard.

Every ten rounds is a checkpoint, where you cash in skulls earned on the way there. Cosmetics unlock as you go, and weekly challenges add another score to chase. The stream pitched it as a place to keep using the Revelations combat, Chain Spear included, past a campaign replay or an Ultra Nightmare and Pandemonium run.

The base game already has the Ripatorium, the arena where you pick the demons yourself. Slaughter Mode deals the fight, and the run has no set end.

Source: Slayers Club Live (IGN)

ARSENY won 250 FPS Season 6 Qualifier 2 on 4 October, beating fire_bot 3-0 in the grand final.
15 players. The prize is a Division 1 slot.
He did not drop a series: 2-0 WPHK1991, 2-0 rell, 2-0 Radist_dk, then 2-1 Fog in the winners final.
fire_bot lost 0-2 to Fog and came back through the lower bracket.

Ten of the twelve Division 1 places are filled.
He joins H3LLDOWN and the eight invites: AGENT, cYpheR, k1llsen, cherepoff, pavel, ash, baksteen and Spart1e.
The last two qualifiers are 11 October and 18 October.

250 FPS put him 5th in the EGB ranking, with 3 wins in Season 5.

Source: 250 FPS

Germany won the QL European Nations Cup after the TDM leg on 4 October.
Three online Sundays: CTF on 20 September, duel on 27 September, TDM on 4 October.

Russia won TDM and beat Germany 2-0 in the grand final.
Germany were second, the UK third, Sweden #1 fourth.
Russia went 12-0 on maps.

Germany finish on 24 (CTF 7, duel 10, TDM 7).
Russia are second on 16 (1, 5, 10). The UK are third, also on 16 (10, 1, 5).
Sweden #1 are on 10.
Benelux 6, Slovenia 4, Denmark 3.
Poland, France, the Czech Republic and Sweden #2 are on 1.
Spain finished on 0.

A different nation won each leg: the UK in CTF, Germany in duel, Russia in TDM.

The community pool is 500 euro.
Germany take 250 (200 for the title, 50 for the duel).
Russia take 150 (100 for second, 50 for TDM).
The UK take 100 (50 for third, 50 for CTF).

Source: House of Quake

Astralis beat Nemiga 3-1 in the grand final of Stake Ranked Episode 4 on 4 October in Barcelona.
The pool is $100,000. First is $25,000. Nemiga take $17,500.
Mirage 13-6, Ancient 10-13, Nuke 13-5, Cache 13-7.

They lost the opener 1-2 to Alliance, then won five straight: FaZe 2-1, BIG 2-1, fnatic 2-0, Luminosity 2-1, Nemiga 3-1.

It is the first LAN title since the BLAST Pro Series Global Final in 2019 in Bahrain.
A different roster won Copenhagen Gaming Week in January 2024, a showmatch.

Staehr was 66-49 in the final (1.41), the series high, and 1.27 for the event.
jabbi posted 2.30 on Mirage.
Staehr was 2.02 on Nuke and took an ace clutch on Cache.

It feels nice to finally lift a trophy.

NEO, to HLTV. He took the coach job in the summer.

HLTV has Astralis back in the top 10 for the first time since June.

Source: HLTV

250 FPS will run a 10-player Division 2 next to Season 6 Division 1. The field is the best qualifier finishers who miss a Division 1 slot and can play. Round robin, five matches played each week, then the top six in a double-elimination playoff.

The playoff pays $300: $120 / $80 / $60 / $40. First and second also get a Division 1 invite for next season. Division 1 stays at 12: eight invited from Season 5, four from the qualifiers. H3LLDOWN took the first. The other qualifiers are 4, 11 and 18 October. No group-stage start date.

Source: 250 FPS

phaze and rapha won EGB Cup 2v2 #4 on 27 September, beating DesiRo and Thri11er 3-1 in the grand final. They did not lose a series. $100: $70 / $30. dramiS and Strongsage finished third.

Upper bracket: 2-0 bukster and GaRpY, 2-0 anger and labur, 2-0 dramiS and Strongsage. DesiRo and Thri11er lost 1-2 to dramiS and Strongsage, beat them 2-0 in the losers final, and lost the rematch 1-3.

rapha's third straight EGB 2v2 title, each with a different teammate: k1llsen in #2, maxter in #3, phaze in #4.

Source: EGB

maxter won Estoty Duel Tournament #220 on 2 October without losing a series, beating Keltz 3-1 in the grand final. Tenth title, one behind ZenAkU. Keltz, third all-time with 33, finished second. $100: $40 / $25 / $15 / $10 / $5. Strongsage finished third, St0n3 fourth. 1eroy and Thri11er tied fifth.

Upper bracket: 2-1 Coffee by Tomo, 2-0 St0n3, 2-1 Strongsage, 2-1 Keltz. Keltz beat Strongsage 2-0 in the losers final and lost the rematch 1-3.

Source: Estoty

AGENT won EGB Cup #70 on 3 October without losing a series. He beat k1llsen 2-1 in the winners final and 3-0 in the grand final. $50: $40 / $10. ash finished third.

Upper bracket: 2-1 rell, 2-0 ARSENY, 2-1 k1llsen. k1llsen beat Spart1e 2-0 and ash 2-0, lost the winners final, then beat ash 2-1 in the losers final and lost the rematch 0-3.

Source: EGB

Hi everyone,

I'm building Dinoblast, a movement game in the spirit of Quake and defrag: strafe jumping, bunny hopping, double jumps, rocket jumps... except you play as a dinosaur. It runs straight in the browser, nothing to install:
https://dinoblast.net

A short early gameplay clip: gameplay.mp4

What the game is about today: racing (runs)
- Timed maps: straight line, slalom, ramps, circle, gaps, mazes...
- Ghosts of the best times, so you can see the lines other players take.
- A world leaderboard per map, with an auto-generated nickname (you can change it).
- Configurable keys, sensitivity and FOV, AZERTY friendly.

Work in progress
- FFA against bots: weapons to pick up (rocket launcher, railgun, lightning gun, poison grenades...), health and armor.
- Online duel.
- And, if there are enough players, TDM and CTF.

What I'm looking for
- Feedback on how the movement feels: speed, jumps, air control, rocket jumps.
- Bugs and performance issues (please mention your GPU / CPU and browser).
- Anything confusing or frustrating in your first minute of play.
- Ideas for race maps.

Under the hood
The engine is written in Rust compiled to WebAssembly, with a home-made WebGL2 renderer and a deterministic simulation at 125 Hz (replays and ghosts play back the exact same run). Optimization is a design goal, not an
afterthought: a stable 60 fps on an Intel iGPU at 1080p, 144 fps on a mid-range GPU at 1440p, and the whole game stays under 20 MB downloaded. Every texture and model has a budget, and anything over it is refused. A good share of the
assets (textures, dinosaur models, sounds) comes out of a local generation pipeline: image, image-to-3D and audio models running on my own machine, then touched up by hand.

Feedback on Discord: https://discord.gg/dr5cJX36B

Thanks in advance, and happy running! 🦖

A diligent exhibit. Quake III Arena: DeFRaG freestyle compilation. Episode 10 is out now!

If you miss and want to play Counter Strike 1.6 5V5, I have built a matchmaking/launcher! I am aiming to compete with Fastcup at this point.

We have a pretty new set of servers with pretty new faces who do it for the love of oldschool CS. This is compatible with whatever and wherever you get your CS 1.6.

Please try 1.6 Competitive
https://www.papamo.dev/16competitive

We have servers North America, SEA, India, and Europe East!

See you in game!

I've been working on Dinoblast, a fast FPS that runs in the browser: no install, no account. dinoblast.net

Movement

• Movement inspired by QuakeWorld-style strafe jumping and bunny hopping
• Physics at a fixed 125 Hz, independent of your framerate
• An in-game bunny hop tutorial takes new players from 300 to 1500 u/s

Race mode (the current focus)

• Trackmania-style: you race against your own ghost and the ghosts of the top 5 players on each map
• World leaderboard per map, and every run is replayed on the server from its inputs before it's accepted, so there are no spoofed times
• 8 race maps so far, including a maze

Coming next

• More maze maps, each adding one twist: multiple floors, traps, water, teleporters
• New race map mechanics: moving platforms, swimming, laser gates, and a track along the back of a giant diplodocus
• Bots and FFA
• Online duel, if enough people are interested

It's a solo project, still rough around the edges. I'm looking for feedback from people who know how movement should feel: acceleration, air control, anything that feels off.

Discord link is on the site.

Reddit user deadmanwonderland_23 says a $1,099 Walmart order for one MSI GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB arrived as four. They are the Frieren edition, listed at $1,259 on MSI's own store, so the four boxes are a bit over $5,000. The post shows four identical cartons. Walmart has not confirmed the shipment, and the buyer has not said whether the extra three were reported.

Source: Reddit

Modder gebdag has put path tracing on Grand Theft Auto 2, the 1999 top-down game. GTA2 RTX Remix, on Nvidia's RTX Remix, lets fires, explosions and gunfire cast light, adds a day-night cycle and 16:9, and aims frame generation at 60 fps. GTA 2 does not speak DirectX 9, so two DLLs translate. A copy of the game is still required. Rockstar gave version 9.6 away in 2004. Any GeForce RTX card can run it. A 4070 or faster is the suggestion.

Source: Tom's Hardware

Thieves in Fremont, California took two PlusAI trailers because they had Nvidia logos on them. They got about half a mile, then opened the doors. Each trailer held 20,000 pounds of sand, 40,000 pounds in all. PlusAI packs the trailers that way so its Nvidia-backed autonomous trucks can practice hauling freight. The computers were in the cabs, which stayed in the warehouse. Police recovered both trailers with the sand still in them. No arrests.

Source: Wired

pavel and Nitrino won EGB Cup #69 on 26 September, the first QL TDM 2v2 under the pairing ban. They did not lose a series and beat k1llsen and Spart1e 3-1 in the grand final. $100: $70 / $30. cYpheR and rell finished third.

Upper bracket: 2-1 k1llsen and Spart1e in the winners semi, 2-1 cYpheR and rell in the winners final. k1llsen and Spart1e came back through the losers over ash and koMnoT, AGENT and KAK_AGENT, then cYpheR and rell, and lost the rematch 1-3.

Source: EGB

H3LLDOWN won 250 FPS Season 6 Qualifier 1 on 27 September, beating sCoopY_ 3-1 in the grand final. He did not lose a series: 2-1 sCoopY_ in the opener, then 2-0 Troolz, ARSENY and Radist_dk. sCoopY_ came back through the lower bracket and lost the rematch 1-3.

The win is the first Division 1 spot. Nine of the twelve places are filled. He joins AGENT, cYpheR, k1llsen, cherepoff, pavel, ash, baksteen and Spart1e. The other qualifiers are 4, 11 and 18 October. The group stage has no start date.

Source: EGB

Germany won the QL Duel Nations Cup on 27 September. k1llsen did not lose a series. He 2-0'd Slovenia, Sweden and Russia in the upper bracket, then beat Spart1e 2-1 in the grand final. Silence was the only map he dropped: Bloodrun 3-2, Silence 3-11, Sinister 5-4.

Russia, ash and pavel, finished third. They lost the winners final 0-2 to Germany, then the lower final 0-1 to Sweden.

Germany has 17 points after two legs (7 from second in CTF, 10 from this duel). The UK is second on 11. Sweden has 7. Benelux and Russia have 6. 4v4 TDM is 4 October. Germany takes the overall title with third or better there, whatever the UK does. The UK is the only team that can still pass them.

Source: House of Quake

would i have anything that happened in my trip to be any interest to the community of ESR.

I have twice to land upon Narita airport. Once was NEX and another Keisei. you must know Tokyo metropolitan choices of train could be JR, Toei and metro.

i have felt an end to my gaming interest. And again would it have anything to do with ESR to a good question and argument.

Sup guys, just wanted to share that theres a "Quake Community" facebook group with 16k users. But they dont share anything about the big cups, streams, etc.

I made some posts about them but they never got approved,yet the admins post and approve shit like "Oh look i found a broken Quake 1 disc in the atic".

Supposing 50% of those 16k check the group here and there, its a lot of eyes. We need majored posts about the important competitive stuff still happening there.

Ive tried and failed, so if you got ideas or a facebook account and want to try something, DO IT!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/quakecommunity

Andrew Willis, a producer on Doom: The Dark Ages and its Revelations expansion, described the July id Software layoff call in an interview with Kiwi Talkz.

Staff were told not to come into the office. About 95 people then got a Teams invite. Cameras off, chat disabled, everyone muted except Marty Stratton.

I received a Microsoft Teams invite, there were about 95 of us, no cameras on with chat disabled, everyone muted except Marty Stratton. He took about 50 seconds to say that if you were on this call, your positions were eliminated. He said it wasn't a reflection on our performance.

He said that was the last direct word from id or Microsoft for many of them, and that people were not allowed back in to collect their things.

Source: Kiwi Talkz

EGB Cup #69, the sixth QL TDM 2v2 in the series, is Saturday 26 September at 11:00 UTC. $100. Double elimination. Winners semis, winners final, lower final, and the grand final are bo3. The other rounds are bo1.

AGENT, ash, cYpheR, pavel, and Latrommi can play, but none of them can team with each other. Each has to pick a partner from outside that five. AGENT and ash won TDM 2v2 #4 and #5, so they cannot defend the title together.

Maps: Almost Lost, Bloodrun, Campgrounds, Devilish, Hidden Fortress.

Source: EGB

250 FPS has set four Quake Live qualifiers for Season 6. The winner of each one takes a group-stage spot. The group stage start is not set, and the season dates are marked approximate.

Qualifier 1 is Sunday 27 September at 11:00 UTC. Then 4 October, 11 October, and 18 October, all at 11:00 UTC. Double elimination: lower bracket bo1, upper bracket bo3, grand final bo5.

Already in from the Season 5 group-stage top eight: cYpheR, AGENT, ash, pavel, k1llsen, cherepoff, baksteen, and Spart1e.

Source: EGB

1.31 Point release introduces new way to play the game, plenty of major changes or plain removals of "DLC" content.

Today’s update marks a new chapter for Quake Champions as we transition the game from a free-to-play service to a paid application on Steam. Along with 30 Seasons worth of content to enjoy, all Champions are now unlocked for everyone, and most vanity content is available to equip. Battle Passes and microtransactions have been removed. Quake Champions is now available for one low price on Steam. No additional content updates are planned at this time. If you previously played Quake Champions on Steam, the new version will appear in your Steam Library at no additional cost.

Full changelog can be found here:
Changelog

United Kingdom won the QL CTF 4v4 European Nations Cup on 20 September, the first leg of the Fall Nations Cup. They went 5-0 in the Swiss, 10-3 on maps, and beat Germany 2-0 in the grand final: Japanese Castles 3-2, Infinity 2-1. Benelux finished third, Denmark fourth.

11 teams. Five Swiss rounds from 13:00 UTC Sunday, playoffs the same night. Semis: UK 2-1 Denmark, Germany 2-0 Benelux.

CTF points toward the overall cup: UK 10, Germany 7, Benelux 5, Denmark 3. Poland, Russia, France, and the Czech Republic each took 1.

Duel is Sunday 27 September. 4v4 TDM is 4 October. The three events combine for the Nations Cup title.

Source: Plus Forward

cYpheR won EGB Cup Final #3 on 20 September, beating k1llsen 4-3 in the grand final. $500: $300 / $100. ash third.

The field was the top eight from the weekly cups: AGENT, k1llsen, cYpheR, ash, Spart1e, pavel, ARSENY, H3LLDOWN. Two groups of four. In Group A, ash, AGENT, and pavel each beat one of the other two 2-0, so one-map tiebreakers decided it. ash and AGENT advanced. In Group B, k1llsen went 3-0 and cYpheR finished second at 2-1.

k1llsen beat AGENT 2-1 in the winners semi and ash 2-1 in the winners final. cYpheR lost 0-2 to ash, then beat AGENT 2-1 and ash 2-0 from the lower bracket.

The final moved to Sunday. k1llsen could not play late Saturday. He started the best-of-seven a map up. cYpheR won four of the six maps played: Silence 10-7, Aerowalk 13-7, Toxicity 12-4, Furious Heights 12-1. k1llsen took Sinister 5-2 and Battleforged 8-5.

Source: Plus Forward

Adam "SyncError" Pyle told the official Quake Discord on 20 September that he is no longer working on Quake Champions updates. The four-week return that started 31 August, to finish 1.31, is over.

On 18 September he had stopped new code and was only answering QA tickets for features already in testing. This goes past that. A player suggested more changes for 1.31. He replied:

I'm no longer working on QC updates.

Asked whether to retire the Discord channel, he posted a farewell GIF and added:

Everyone's dad dies eventually. It's time for me to leave you.

He said the dad is dying. Turns out he was just dying to leave.

No replacement developer is named. He has not said whether 1.31 ships, or whether it is the last QC update. That build still drops the Store, Battle Pass, and paid currencies, and unlocks most vanity.

Source: Plus Forward