The Unreal Tournament 2004 demo was released early this morning with lots of mirrors to distribute the load effectively. We still had some problems getting hold of it due to every other site requiring some stupid login, Thankfully the guys at Xtra MSN came to our aid and made the pain go away! The new demo ships with five maps, lots of different game types, including two previously unseen ones, and you now get to zoom around in vehicles!

-- Onslaught Mode: Onslaught is a epic-in-scope team-based challenge that pits two teams in bitter warfare across massive terrain maps in a frag-filled battle to destroy, capture and hold key power nodes. Vehicles play a major role as war-hardened flying and driving machines transport combatants to the "front" and serve as mobile platforms to launch devastating attacks on the enemy.

Head on over to the files page and grab the demo here. There will be servers up and running at some stage early this morning I'm sure, AusGamers might even give a few servers a go. Also, noticed a site that may be handy for Aussie UT players yesterday for any issues you might have, thats unrealtournament2004.com.au

im liek, totally gonna check it out.

edit by trog (too many, too big screenshots for another game)

last edited by trog at 10:55:28 12/Feb/04

onslaught is wicked as, I can fore sure say that Tribes Vengeance will be pretty awesome on this engine.

to me, it appears that epic never get the lighting right. it looks like like every model has been pasted into the frame instead of being part of the environment.

wooo hoo!! UT2004! :D
25% comawwnn!

DL now hope it's good.

AusGamers might even give a few servers a go

AusGamers with game servers, surely you jest?

either way, we need servers now!

ps. this game is such a Tribes ripoff

goddamn Painkiller looks f***in rad.

This is gonna be awesome. Never bothered with UT2003 because the graphics looked like ass, sorta like Q3. Everything looked fake with overuse of shiny surfaces. But now they've put Assault back in things are looking up. Need some LANage action happening with this.

When is the full version being officially released?

this is pretty funny actually, no hype around this game at all, bam just arrives on ya doorstep, hl2 (where's that??) doom3 (another non-appearance) go UT, personally i think UT has never gotten the publicity it has deserved maybe it will now

also WOW was just checking the net for different news and this article http://www.gamespy.com/articles/february04/ut2004dvd/ grabbed my attention

Why do a DVD version of UT 2004, you might ask? The rationale becomes obvious once you find out that the CD version of the game is shipping on 6 discs. (The minimum installation reportedly takes up a whopping 5.5 GB of hard-drive space.) All 6 CD's fit nicely on disc 1 of the DVD set, which (if nothing else) should make the installation easier and reduce the risk of misplacing or scratching various CD's.

also

This frees up disc 2 of the DVD set for a variety of special features not included with the CD set, including a number of behind-the-scenes interviews at Epic showing the making of UT 2004. Perhaps the most interesting use of the second DVD, however, is the use of VTM's -- "Video Training Modules" created by the staff at 3DBuzz.com. These countless hours of .avi tutorials ("a few hundred hours," as CliffyB puts it) will teach aspiring Unreal mod authors the ins and outs of creating levels, creating and importing characters, bot navigation, and anything else they'll need to build their own games within UT 2004. A special version of Maya Personal Learning Edition is also being bundled with UT 2004, that will allow modelers to create fully functioning models for the game.

and most excitingly this....

If the extra DVD features don't seem worthy of the extra bucks, Atari is also bundling a Logitech headset with this special edition of UT 2004. The game has a number of features that make use of the headset, from voice-over-IP communication with other players, to voice recognition software that allows players to shout orders at computer-controlled bots in the single-player action.

The minimum installation reportedly takes up a whopping 5.5 GB of hard-drive space.

Man why are games getting so f***ing big.

umm well games are getting a tad more detailed than they use to be.

large high res textures, high quality sounds etc

also in case no-one noticed hdd's are now massive too, my latest purchase was a 160GB drive, and i paid less for it than for my 30GB drive 3 years ago!

this sure feels like ut2k3

anyone else getting f***ed up text in the menu?

kotor sucked big balls in my book.

Your book must be pretty s*** then, remind me not to read it.

its fubar because no one is seeding at all.. ffs... optus people uploads are free!@!@!@@#!@#!

yeah the bit torrent file wont load off the server for me :( shame cause the conventional link is slow as which is unusual.

Just realised this - its because the file server is full. I've made some changes, it will start working normally again soon. In the meantime if you just wait, the .torrent file will come down in a few minutes.

go go gadget gamearena goodness. 500kb/s

I know games are getting bigger, but 5gig? That's a bit of a leap?

Seems as drives get bigger and internet faster, less effort is placed on compression and optimisation. I guess I am in no position to judge, but 5gig (minimum) sounds kind of lazy.

last edited by Cailean at 23:19:36 12/Feb/04

Could just be me being cynical, but could this be a new form of copy protection? Make the game so huge that it will be much more of a hassle to warez?

Doesn't seem much more than an expansion pack for UT2k3 to me. Its moderately fun, but the bots have no clue how to play Onslaught mode properly.

I'm downloading this thing for the fifth time so it had better be good. The download better freakin work this time too.

dont bother its just rehash of the other unreal tourneys (very disapointing)..

dont bother its just rehash of the other unreal tourneys (very disapointing)..

I think "very disappointing" is a bit harsh. Sure its not amazingly mind blowing, but its still fun for a quick bash. It really is nothing more than an expansion pack for UT2k3 though, so dont go expecting a whole new game from it, but I wouldn't say its very disappointing.

I finally gave this a go last night and it doesn't do anything for me. Reminds me exactly of UT2003 and the graphics look the same as well. There's no way I'd buy a copy of this game but I will definately be buying a copy of BF-Vietnam. This game will s*** all over UT.

8-)

err are you guys playing the same Onslaught?

Seems better than BF1942 to me. Lots of cool vehicles + an awesome infantry implementation unlike Battleflop 1942.

Battleflop 1942

huh?

Seems better than BF1942 to me. Lots of cool vehicles + an awesome infantry implementation unlike Battleflop 1942.

let it go orbs

i still dont understand what you're complaining about;

yor missing out on the best pc game getting around atm;



last edited by Spook at 16:52:55 13/Feb/04

This is basically what ut2k3 should have been. The graphics are refined with more details and the game play has been refined in alot of ways. The weapon balance has been changed. Reload times for some of the guns (lightning for eg) has been changed and the weapon changing speed has been changed. Basically u can't get 1 or 2 shock shots in before the lg even reloads. :( hehe. so it's more like ut1 in that respect.

The movement has been changed. I'm not totally sure, it might be the large areas tricking me, but I think the dodge jump has been shortened a bit. Also I havn't worked out how to do boost dodges, if they are still there, again yet.

I think overall it's going to be a much more polished game than 2k3. Maps are supposed to have better balance aswell, which is one of the gripes that ut1 ppl had of 2k3. Plus the biggest thing is the number of ppl playing it. Last night was the most I've seen playing ut for a very long time.

Its basically the same at UT2k3, but its pretty good with all the vehicles and flying things.. not bad :)

Is this using any dx9 features at all?

Far Cry will be a DVD release.

Plus the biggest thing is the number of ppl playing it. Last night was the most I've seen playing ut for a very long time.

There were heaps of people playing the UT2k3 demo when it came out, and even the full game, but the novelty wears off quick and people move onto the next "big thing".

To me it seems Epic favour quantity over quality.

this sure feels like ut2k3

i always thought it was just ut2k3 with vehicles and maps?

wasnt that the whole idea of it or did they accually do some coding on it?

looks good, (i never had 2K3 (just G.O.T.Y), but 5 minutes into playing it my cpu over heated and shut down. :(

Khel: I know all too well the number or lack there of people who played 2k3. I played it the whole way through from demo. That's why I'm praying that these numbers keep up.

I wouldn't say the "feel" of the game is the same as 2k3. I reackon it feels completely different. However, I would say that it looks pretty much the same.

Quote: Could just be me being cynical, but could this be a new form of copy protection? Make the game so huge that it will be much more of a hassle to warez?

No, Games are getting bigger . Games these days use Safedisc and other protection methods . No protection will stop it being ''warez'ed'' as you call it ..

The DVD verison is defianly temping , cross fingers with that wont be over 95 bucks.

For those people using Bit Torrent to get it , of course its goin to download s***y . No one in australia has a decent upload speed .. Use a webpage or FTP server and youre downloads will be awesome speeds ...

http://games.bigpond.com/pc/resources/files/?action=details&id=10413(Bigpond Website)

http://games.iinet.net.au/files/index.cgi?id=7805 - iinet website link

http://games.internode.on.net/?page=filelist&filedetails=697 -Internode website link

ftp://ftp.brisbane.pipenetworks.com/.disks/disk2/games/ut2004/demo/UT2004-BetaDemo.exe - Queensland
Pipenetworks (free dsl traffic) FTP

ftp://ftp.sydney.pipenetworks.com/.disks/disk2/games/ut2004/demo/UT2004-BetaDemo.exe - (NSW/Sydney PipeNetworks FTP link

To me it seems Epic favour quantity over quality.

The weapons in UT are a perfect example, but that said I'm still enjoying it.

You all act as though games on DVD is a new prospect...

Swing back to 1998

Overseer was the first DVD-ROM game ever produced. In fact, the package not only comes with the CDs necessary to play the game, but also the DVD version (with DVD-quality video) on a single DVD disc.

More Here

yeah, even if it is unbalanced, it certainly makes for good value for money. so much to play!

Lander was another early game on DVD.

i loves UT, still remember the first UT, how good was it!

Yeh I liked the first...sort of never got into UT23k but this 2004 demo has been a fair bit of fun and I can just imagine the insane Onslaught Maps these guys and other modders make for the different modes. I liked the Assault map and its convoy type settings...would love to see a similar assault map but taking place in the sky between ships in formation..that sort of thing.

I mean its not like EPIC Megagames are trying...

8. Unreal Tournament 2003
1757 servers, 3267 players

But if they could realise that there are still people playing older stuff:

15. Unreal Tournament
2807 servers, 1184 players

Most of these players are, from what I've read in some analysis (can't find it now) actually just bots.

indeed. however, as I've said before It's just not the same as 2k3 with the other game types aswell. It has a completely different feel. Just about all that is the same is the name of the guns.

I love it. Even though theres only one onslaught map I keep playing it. Making me play less DoD too. So yes, the new ons game type is great and I didnt mind the assualt map either.

It still feels the same as UT2k3 to me, but then I wasn't some UT2k3 ninja that could notice a slight difference in the responsiveness of the mouse between versions. Onslaught is a cool concept, but so far my attempts to have a decent game of it online have failed miserably. Too many people seem unable to grasp the the concept of it and just run around shooting each other or fall prey to the Battlefield Syndrome (fighting over vehicles, getting in vehicles and driving them around like retards achieving nothing).

Yeah, I'd have to agree Khel.

http://www.nefarious-240z.com/Pub/UT2004_Evil.jpg

Actually the more I play Onslaught online the more and more I am liking it...on a lan (remember them?) it would be awesome I reckon with a bunch real team players.

Are there other vehicles due in the final release or are they all in this demo?

There's at least 1 missing. The leviathan. It's like a supervehicle supposedly. not sure if there's any others.

The manta is so awesome. Prolly 80% of my kills involve the text: ROAD RAGE, VEHICULAR MANSLAUGHTER LUDICROUS etc and me being in a manta :)

lol

ludicrous speed!

anyone try out the speech recognition stuff in UT2k4 yet? i gave it a wurle yesterday and it seems to work pretty well.

(Note: for those who don't know, this allows you to give commands into a microphone and have the bots obey those commands in gametypes like onslaught. You can even tell your bots to commit suicide :)

There are some instructions on how to set it up here:

http://www.beyondunreal.com/content/articles/74_1.php

there's a complete list of vehicles in the PDF manual that was included in the demo.

it's the manual for the full game

I played 2004 at a LAN all weekend and that alone convinced me to get it when it comes out. It's what UT2003 should have been.

whatever that buggy is that has the blades on the side you can fling out to chop up enemies is farking COOL.

Unreal is gay full stop

we still need 3 for our clan, doh...

anyone half decent (or not) interested?

hehe

mongie - msn me, me and a mate are up for it.

i might be.