News Archive for December 2003
Thursday December 25th
Happy Holidays! { Zandervix }
For whatever holiday(s) you may celebrate this season, may you have good times and good cheer. 'Good on Ya!'
Sunday December 21st
Avon's Hope Filming Completed { Zandervix }
The initial filming for Avon's Hope has been completed. After a few more tweaks and some finishing touches, it'll be ready for download. Keep your eyes here and at their site for more info.
Saturday December 20th
OPOP3 Tourney { Zandervix }
I could tell you about it, but just go here for all your tourney info.
Friday December 19th
New Plugins from Magma { Gholsbane }
Project Magma — mapmakers extraordinaire — have produced yet another slew of tasty morsels for your Mything pleasure. In their words:
Shadow III:
A technically advanced reprise by Iron Duke of the extremely popular Shadow II for TFL. Not only can you play this Myth II 1.4 plugin in standard Myth II mode and vTFL mode, but it's been specially engineered, scripted and balance tested for the following tagsets: Special Forces, Blue & Grey, Bushido and Leggo.
The Woods Out Back:
One of two plugins that focus on the Arch-Lich Belial, this one is an outdoor search and rescue mission by Discordia, Sandman and GHOST®, which contains many stunning new units and randomized scripting for tons of replayability.
Scourge of Belial:
A favorite amongst Magma testers who couldn't get enough of this extremely fun and addictive dungeon crawl designed and scripted by GHOST® and set on a colormap by Phish. Huge battles, deadly traps and random puzzles await as you strive to get ever deeper into Belial's lair for the final confrontation.
Having helped test out some of these myself, I can assure you that they are a blast to play.
So what are you waiting for? Head on over to their site, and snag these plugins for some glorious carnage and mayhem.
MythDevelopers Close Down { Gholsbane }
As of last Wednesday, MythDevelopers, the appointed caretakers of the Myth series have ceased operations. All that now remains of this controversial group is this announcement on their website:
Announcement From MythDev
Effective immediately, MythDev has ceased development on the Myth series of games. We've handed things off to Contraband Entertainment for future work and development. You should consult with them regarding any future work on these games. Current and future releases will no longer be available via these pages.
It was a lot of fun for a long time, but it's time to move onto other things. We wish the future developers of the Myth series the best of luck in their future pursuits.
Sincerely;
Michael R. Bagnall (Blades)
Rick Stufflebean (Clem)
Many rumours are currently circulating with regards to the reasons behind this sudden and unexpected departure, and it is unclear whether even Contraband know what's going on.
There has been talk of a new group of developers taking on responsibility alongside Contraband and several remnant members of MythDev are thought to be among them.
One thing is for sure; Blades managed to anger a large part of the community before his departure, and I doubt his presence will be much missed.
It's amazing how much drama has taken place in this small community — six years old now — and I'm sure we won't be seeing the death of the series any time soon.
One thing the announcement did emphasise was the future. With groups like Project Magma still churning out terrific plugins, and two servers still supporting the community, I'm seeing a very bright future indeed.
Monday December 8th
ProjectMagma is Back!! { Zandervix }
ProjectMagma is back, baby!
Saturday December 6th
The Snake Strikes Again { Zandervix }
As some of you may know, ProjectMagma and Udog's sites are down. What you may not know is why. Well, I can't pretend to know for sure either. Now, what I'm about to tell you is unconfirmed at this point. However, given everything that has happened in the community lately; and given what I do know for sure at this point, I'm inclined to believe this.
It seems that "Blades" has gone off the deep end again, and decided to be the jerk-hole that most everyone thinks he is. I've tried to be neutral, I've tried to be nice, but this is just too much. This guy just needs to leave the community, and now, never to return. When he departed from admining at PlayMyth, many thought that he was stepping back and leaving all alone. But no.
I know, I know. I haven't gotten to the meat and potatoes yet. Okay, here it is. Let's take a look at an "alleged" letter sent to the University that ProjectMagma and the Udogs site is hosted at from Blades, shall we?
I am sending you this email because I think you should know that the Pennsylvania tax payers are paying to support an abusive, non-school related borderline hate web site on the school's bandwidth. The name of this web site is "projectmagma.net". It is being hosted on a computer somewhere on the school district's internet-available network. This web site offers downloads of copyrighted software without permission from the publisher and also has a forum filled with hate-filled rhetoric. I know, because I am the subject of this rhetoric. I would invite you to look at several links below - knowing that I am the person referred to as "Blades" in many of their posts.
http://projectmagma.net/cgi-bin/webbbs_config.pl?read=5062
http://projectmagma.net/cgi-bin/webbbs_config.pl?read=5114Also be sure to check out the files ares which offers unlimited free downloads at the school district's expense:
http://projectmagma.net/1.4downloads.shtml
(Their "The Fallen Levels v2" is actually a copyrighted work that they do not have permission to distribute)
Because this non-scholasic related web site is on the school district's bandwidth - it is being paid for by the Tax payers of the state of Pennsylvania - which happens to be the home state of my family. I myself am in Tennessee.
I would welcome an investigation into this before I contact the ISP about shutting down this web site. I'm always available for any further information that you need.
Thanks;
Michael R. Bagnall
Powertools Productions, LLC.
mbagnall@powertools.net
615.453.1141 / 800.444.1563
http://www.powertools.net
Don't worry about trying the links, the site is gone, remember? Now, supposedly, jerk-ho.. eh.. I mean Blades, sent this letter. And now, "poof!" The sites are gone.
Now here's the interesting part. Many sites are hosted by the University's out there. I'm not sure where tax dollars come in. Sure, there are tax dollars involved in the schools, but what do you think tuition is for? Schools give you server space for a reason: To use it. These sites weren't doing anything they weren't supposed to. Let's look at it this way:
- Server Space:
- Given to you freely by the school (as long as you pay your tuition).
- Bandwidth:
- Schools have multiple T1, T3, or faster lines. The bandwidth is there, baby. I seriously doubt the amounts used by these sites even dented it.
- Copyrights:
- What the hell is he talking about? If there was a concrete copyright on Third Party creations, we would all be fined. He tries to use vTFL as an example, but it falls under a third party creation.
Suffice it to say, the school buckled under the threat and pressure. They were just playing it safe. I don't know if they ever check out the content on their servers, but I'm sure they are aware of it. And these sites had nothing except the [sometimes not so] occasional flame. Good grief, what about freedom of speech?
Well here's my freedom: If this is true, then Blades is nothing more than a conniving, low-life, worthless piece of [CENSORED]!
Thursday December 4th
MythGraveyard Opens Up. { Zandervix }
The Myth Graveyard has just opened it's doors, and looks to be a very good resource for things thought lost. I'll let Charles d'Ghol explain it to you:
I wanted let you know that there is a new site connected to Myth. It is a place where there is a good number of information on the cartography and scripting and how to play the game and the strategy and other things too.
This site is called the graveyard of myth because all the things which you find here are of the sites of myth which have died. Stop close by and pay your regards to deaths, find some ends to help you to beat your supreme enemy, or download a part of the length-lost myth 2 courses of instruction in scripting and cartography.
There is a lot of info and good stuff here, and I myself will be spending a good chunk of time in the next few days checking out everything there. My hat's off to d'Ghol and all the great work he's put into this. The actual address for this site is http://mythgraveyard.mything.org/. I suggest adding it to your favorites list right now. Now, I say!
Wednesday December 3rd
PlayMyth Extends the Olive Branch { Zandervix }
From PlayMyth:
Since Mariusnet has been down for several days, we here at playmyth.net have been discussing what we can do to help these players. It's been brought up that playmyth.net isn't an option for some because of bans, locks, etc. based on previous altercations between mythdev/magma/playmyth/marius, etc. Well, it's time to get the family back together.
So we're offering the following for those affected by blocks/bans from here: contact us at accounts@playmyth.net and we'll get you set back up with an account here and get things squared away. Forget the past, put it behind us and move forward as a bigger, happier family. This *is* a "let bygones be bygones" offer, so please leave any baggage at the door, we have.