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| 02-28-08 / 10:55 PM : Racer 0.5.4b1 (cjed) |
| A new version of the free simulation game Racer, 0.5.4b1, is available here (25 Mb). However this version is Intel only, a PPC version (older, 0.5.0) can be found here. |
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| 02-28-08 / 10:44 PM : GeForce 8800GT / Radeon HD2600 XT benchs (cjed) |
| Macworld provides comparative benchs of Radeon HD2600 XT card versus GeForce 8800GT in a 8 core 2,8 Ghz MacPro. The 8800GT is 41% faster in Doom 3 at 1024*768, and 3 times faster (300%) at 1600*1200. In Quake 4 performances are close at 1024*768 (this game probably uses more the CPU than the GPU), but the 8800GT remains 2 times faster at 1600*1200. In old games like UT2004, optimised for ATI cards, the 8800GT doesn't bring gains, whatever the frequency. |
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| 02-27-08 / 08:39 PM : Yamaha Tenori-On soon (cjed) |
 Yamaha will introduce the famous Tenori-On this Spring in Europe (including France). Expected price is around 800 euros. |
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| 02-27-08 / 08:23 PM : Centrino MacBook in June (cjed) |
| As new MacBook bring SSE4, Intel should ship starting June new centrino 2 solutions, including very low consumption processors (5,5W for a dual core 1,2Ghz, that is probably faster than a G4 1,25Ghz), FSB at 1066Mhz and a new GMA X4500 chipset (2 times more powerful than the GMA X3100, and allowing hardware Blu-Ray decoding). |
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| 02-26-08 / 10:23 PM : New MacBookPro : the best choice (cjed) |
| As expected Apple a presented the new MacBook Pro, fitted with multitouch trackpad, and with the long awaited Penryn processors (6Mb of L2 cache at the processors frequency, SSE4 instructions that are necessary for good performance in pro audio&video softwares - imacs use the old processors with SSE3 instructions, that are still less powerful than G4's Altivec). The best model (price/performance ratio) is the entry level one, at 1999$, the 256Mb more (512Mb total) VRAM on the second model being unuseful, and other differences being minimal (slightly more powerful processor, 50Gb more disk space, one additional USB slot). The 500$ price difference isn't probably worth, considering the RAM is the same (2 Gb) in all three models. The 20"imac at 2,4Ghz, fitted with only 1Gb ram and a Radeon HD2600 Pro graphic card, is less powerfull (and also less portable and without multitouch nor LED backlit) and is however priced very close (1499$). We can then expect soon a price drop for the imacs. The new updated MacBook are very less interesting compared to the new Pro models : 1499$ for the MacBook 2,4Ghz (same Penryn processor with SSE4 but half the L2 cache), little screen size (and not LED), GMA video chipset, no firewire 800, no multitouch. In this case the 500$ price difference is more than worth. |
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| 02-25-08 / 10:32 PM : Tomb Raider Anniversary review (cjed) |
| Ludomac provides a review of Tomb Raider Anniversary. Despite some used problems (camera movements) the result is very positive, from a long time. It doesn't work on G4. |
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| 02-25-08 / 10:03 PM : Eternal X : Marathon is back (cjed) |
| The Xeventh Project announces the avaibility of Eternal X, the largest ever created mod for Marathon Aleph One, whose development started just after Marathon Infinity in 1996 ! The mod offers an adventure (solo) mode featuring 52 levels, hundreds of high resolution textures, dozens of new musics, new objects and characters ! Two versions are provided, Full (227 Mb) and Lite (51 Mb). A link to the latest MacOSX Aleph One version is available. |
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| 02-25-08 / 12:30 AM : AfGroove : Symphonic groove (cjed) |
 This song is based on an Artist Rhythm loop (through a convolution effect), a K2 pad and SO Gold XP :AfGroove |
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| 02-24-08 / 12:31 AM : Sport DVD (cjed) |
| Thank to Sabine (sorry i'm a bit late) from CALLISTO Prod (south France) for having sent me a copy of its sport challenge DVD (cycle) that uses 3 songs (SmoothStab, Thumped and AS Balade). As it is a small production company and a limited edition, I agreed to licence these songs for that use (the procedure and credits have been meeted). Other such projects (non pro movies) are being worked (many received permisison asks through emails) but I've not yet see the final results. |
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| 02-23-08 / 03:10 PM : 20th composing anniversary (cjed) |
| Since 2008 start I've been composing from 20 years, as I started with upright piano in late 1987, and used a little later a Yamaha PSS270, 2 operators FM and stereo (see Songs section, year 1988). I haven't got any recordings from this instrument but a year later I remixed some songs with the PSS680 (a few dozens of songs recorded on tapes, that have been digitalized and remastered after the site creation). A very thank to people that allowed me to discover music making and synths. However only songs made since my first samples library buy (Symphonic Orchestra Gold, first in summer 2005) are provided (that is one hundred, from about 650 songs total), as they correspond to my new approach, started with the site creation : free music, and rights protection (creative commons nc&nd licence that doesn't allow commercial use nor derived work, and legal SNAC deposit). I haven't had any problems since (no rights infringments), and non commercial uses most of the times leaded to kind asked permissions that I always accepted. I even received recently in reward a DVD from a small local production company that used 3 songs. Numerous kind messages through mails, or comments at musique-libre.org are the most important. Some people would even buy me new instruments to improve the result (see a recent comment at musique-libre) ! :-) Some communities like Jamendo provide a donation system (not required however to listen to songs) but the files are available in master (CD) quality. I consider that full quality musics (and polished work) shouldn't be released for free, there should be a cost (variable, depending on the use, personnal listening or use in a non commercial project). Therefore I only provide songs in MP3 quality (great 192kbits encoding however), and they aren't all completed (more were the ten first years, but I had more time). The song Emotional (1996, see at musique-libre.org, last page) is ranked 43th over 20 000 songs total in the global ranking. Good listening !s |
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| 02-22-08 / 11:16 PM : Site pages display speed problem : fixed (cjed) |
| Pages display on the site was very very slow since some time. In fact it was due to the pagerank calculation. The requested server that provides the rank for the current page takes sometimes minutes to respond (notably for the Songs section). This info has been removed, and the site is now blazzing fast. |
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| 02-22-08 / 10:53 PM : Neverwinter Nights 2 : preview (cjed) |
| IMG provides a preview of Neverwinter Nights 2, expected this month. It requires an Intel mac with graphic card (the GMA chipsets aren't supported). |
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| 02-22-08 / 10:31 PM : Optimus Maximus OLED keyboard available (cjed) |
 Lebedev's Optimus Maximus keyboard, presented close to 3 years ago, is finally available. At 462$ (far more cheaper than initially planned) it brings 113 OLEDs (48*48 pixels resolution) that allow to display not only pictures (16 bits colors), but also videos (at a min 10fps rate). The layouts are stored on SD cards.We can see an interactive demo here and the provided OSX settings panel (10.4.8 required) there. |
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| 02-22-08 / 10:26 PM : Apple multitouch surface (cjed) |
| A new Apple patent about a multitouch surface has been unveiled. This single hardware allows typing, poiting, scrolling and handwriting, without the need for various devices (mouse, keyboard, drawing tablet). |
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| 02-21-08 / 10:41 PM : PCmag : review of MacOSX 10.5.2 (cjed) |
| PCmag provides a review of MacOSX 10.5.2, there is their conclusions : Leopard again raises the question of whether to switch from Windows to a Mac. I've found Vista to be a major disappointment that tends to look worse the more I use it. I still use Windows XP for getting serious work done in long, complicated documents. But OS X is easier to manage and maintain and I vastly prefer OS X to Windows for Web-browsing, mail, and especially for any task that involves graphics, music, or video. Leopard performs all such tasks even better than previous versions did—and Leopard is the only OS on the planet that works effortlessly and intuitively in today's world of networked computers and peripherals. Leopard is far from perfect, but it's better than any alternative, and it's getting harder and harder to find good reasons to use anything else. |
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| 02-20-08 / 10:18 PM : Puremagnetik TeeBee (cjed) |
| Puremagnetik presents TeeBee, a samples library (24 bits, 250Mb) providing 50 clips and loops from Roland TB303, for Kontakt 3, Logic 8 (EXS24) and Live 6&7. An audio demo is available. |
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| 02-19-08 / 10:33 PM : BSNES 0.2.8 / SixtyForce 0.9.2 & Cocoa preview (cjed) |
| Richard Bannister provides a new version version, 0.2.8, of its new BSNES emulator (emulates a Nintendo Super NES). This software uses a cycle accurate hardware emulation, without any optimization, so it requires a G5. We can also download the latest SixtyForce version, 0.9.2, here. A preview of a Cocoa version (full code rewrite then for the UI) is also available. |
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| 02-19-08 / 10:25 PM : Multitouch preferences / ipod Shuffle / HD-DVD (cjed) |
| A patent about a control panel to set the multitouch behaviour (up to 4 sensitive points) is presented by Macrumors. Meanwhile Apple dropped ipod Shuffle prices (now 49$ for 1Gb and 69$ for 2Gb) and Toshiba announced the end of HD-DVD (that Apple doesn't care as they sell HD movies through the iTUnes store, and they also were on the Blu-Ray side). |
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| 02-18-08 / 11:30 PM : Spore preview (cjed) |
| The site computerandvideogames provides the first preview of Spore, expected in the last quarter.The gameplay seems really innovating and deep. |
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| 02-18-08 / 11:19 PM : Turret Wars MP Demo 1.0 (cjed) |
 A demo of Turret Wars MP is also available here (35 Mb, G4 1Ghz required). It is limited to one environment and one networked player. |
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| 02-18-08 / 11:06 PM : StuntMANIA!pro 2.5 : demo (cjed) |
 Sector3Games provide a new demo of StuntMANIA!pro (version 2.5, 32 Mb). It is limited to one environment but the playability is announced to be better over the previous version. An 1Ghz G4 is required, and some graphical bugs are expected on 10.5.2. |
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| 02-17-08 / 12:09 AM : Tomb Raider Anniversary demo (cjed) |
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| 02-17-08 / 12:01 AM : Bugdom 2 universal binay 3.0.8 update (cjed) |
| Pangea Software provides an universal binay 3.0.8 update to Bugdom 2. We can download the full version, the update only, and a demo version. |
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| 02-16-08 / 11:39 PM : Leopard : Resolution Independant / CoreUI (cjed) |
 One of new Leopard features presented two years ago is resolution independant display of widgets, that is a guaranted real controls size whatever the screen's pixels density. It allows better reading on a 20" display (1680*1050 resolution, that is normally intended to 22" displays). Moreover we can modify the global scale factor, for example to display bigger controls (not a basic zoom with interpolating as in LCDs, but a whole new rendering). However there is still problems with controls spacing, it isn't consistent with scale factor changes and some applications can behave bad (Apple presented new guideline during the WWDC2007, to ensure new applications display correctly whatever the scale factor selected). This new feature should be activated in 2008.Apple created CoreUI framework to manage widgets display at various scales. It uses bitmaps (bigger ones) as base textures combined with vector graphics for simple shapes. So it can explain the 30% drop in UI performance showed by xbench (there may be also some hooks to plug CoreAnimation in the future). |
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| 02-16-08 / 11:24 PM : Quartz GL (cjed) |
| In its long review of Leopard published in October, ArsTechnica presented QuartzGL the ultimate evolution of Quartz 2D (QuartzGL is the new name for Quartz 2D Extreme). Quartz 2D Extreme was included in Tiger but it was desactivated by default. In fact, to see performance gains, applications had to be rewritten, as QuartzGL optimizations are somewhat opposite to the way of designing drawing with the original Quartz 2D. But hopefully under Leopard Quartz GL can be activated selectively, for some applications (and windows) only. So it allows a smoother transition. |
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| 02-13-08 / 11:39 PM : Penumbra: Black Plague : review (cjed) |
| Gamezone provides a review of Penumbra: Black Plague, the sequel to Overture. It gains a good overall score thanks to its ambience and playability (interesting puzzles, use of a physics engine), despite graphics that aren't top notch. |
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| 02-13-08 / 11:34 PM : Apple TV 2.0 : reviews (cjed) |
| First reviews of Apple TV 2.0 are available here and there. The HD rentals movies quality is better than DVD quality.s |
| 3 comment |
| 02-12-08 / 11:18 PM : Aperture 2 demo (cjed) |
| Apple released Aperture 2. A demo is available here. A video demo of the new Apple TV is also provided. |
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| 02-11-08 / 11:20 PM : 10.5.2 update / security update / WO 5.4.1 (cjed) |
| The long awaited 10.5.2 OSX update is now available. It notably adds hierarchical navigation in docked folders and a separate graphic drivers update to apply after the OS update. A security update is also provided. We can finally find a 5.4.1 update to WebObjects. |
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| 02-11-08 / 11:14 PM : Ardour 2.3 (cjed) |
| The open source sequencer Ardour is out in version 2.3 for Linux. An OSX version is expected soon (based on Jack). The latest stable OSX version is the 2.1. |
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| 02-11-08 / 11:12 PM : EVE Online review (cjed) |
 The site mmorpg provides a review of the multiplayer game EVE Online (expected soon on mac). |
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| 02-11-08 / 11:09 PM : X-Plane 9.0b20 (cjed) |
| A first public release of the next X-Plane (9) is available here (9.0b20). |
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| 02-11-08 / 11:07 PM : Price cut on iPhone / iPod Touch ? (cjed) |
| A rumor states that Apple would drop by 100$ on month end iPhones and iPod Touch prices, during the release of the iPhone/Ipod Touch SDK. In fact is may be just doubling the flash memory included in the various models, the iPod Touch 8 Gb being discontinued, and replaced by a 16Gb version at the same price (299$). |
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| 02-11-08 / 10:56 PM : Safari 3.1 WebKit : 2,5x faster (cjed) |
| Computerworld reported benchs of the version of the Safari WebKit engine (r30123, November, 2007), that brings a huge 2,5x performances gain over Safari 3.0.4 (the same compared with Firefox 3.0 beta3). The new WebKit should be part of Safari 3.1. We also learn that Icab 4, whose development has started again, is now using WebKit. |
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| 02-10-08 / 11:35 PM : EZ Rock drummer (cjed) |
| This shorts intro (15s) uses EZDrummer for drums (with added bass and guitar from Kontakt 2 - through amp sim). : EZRock |
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| 02-09-08 / 03:25 PM : Word Builder 1.1.7 : Leopard compatible (cjed) |
| A Word Builder update, 1.1.7, compatible with Leopard, is available at soundsonline.com. |
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| 02-08-08 / 11:54 PM : Special event : february (cjed) |
| AppleInsider states that Apple might prepare a special event for late February. Would be useful as the stock felt (from 200 to 120$ since the Macworld). |
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| 02-07-08 / 10:32 PM : Neon Tango available / demo (cjed) |
 Neon Tango from Freeverse is now available (25$) and a demo can be downloaded here (95 Mb). It requires a 800 Mhz G4 with 32 Mb VRAM (and OSX 10.4 or later). A video is also available, as well as an article on Apple site. Freeverse site gives a funny description : If Chuck Norris had his action removed and hot-glued onto Jack Bauer, and then Mr. Bauer was blended into a protein shake, it would be called “The Neon Tango” and… it would be Delicious!!! |
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| 02-06-08 / 11:10 PM : Myst Online: Uru Live : closed (cjed) |
| GameTap a announced that Myst Online: Uru Live will close in two months. It is a business problem, the second after the original Uru. Only WoW seems to keep interest. |
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| 02-06-08 / 11:05 PM : ArsTechnica : MacBook Air review (cjed) |
| ArsTechnica provides a full review of the MacBook Air. It is less powerful than the MacBook, and benchs show OpenGL performance of both (share the same X3100 graphic chipset) 6 times less than MacBook Pro performance (GeForce 8600M GT). |
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| 02-05-08 / 11:36 PM : Return to Dark Castle : trailer (cjed) |
 A trailer of Return to Dark Castle is available here. We can read the history of the original game that came on mac in 1986. |
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| 02-05-08 / 11:32 PM : Cubase 4/Studio/Nuendo Leopard updates (cjed) |
| Steinberg provides updates (4.1.2) to Cubase 4, Cubase 4 Studio and Nuendo 4, that bring full Leopard compatibility. |
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| 02-05-08 / 11:24 PM : iPhone 16 Gb / iPod Touch 32 Gb (cjed) |
| Apple added new models of iPhone and iPod Touch, respectively 16Gb and 32 Gb (499$ each). We can also see results of the iPhone for the four quarter 2007. |
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| 02-04-08 / 10:48 PM : LEGO Indiana Jones : trailer (cjed) |
| LucasArts provides a trailer of LEGO Indiana Jones, its next game based on the same idea as LEGO Starwars. It seems very funny, and is expected this summer (2008). The very promising Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is also due to this summer. |
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| 02-04-08 / 10:31 PM : Apple : game histories (cjed) |
 Apple added in its site games section an history of the most famous games series. Here we find Blizzard games, the Civilization series, id Software games, Madden Football, Myst episodes, the Sims, Starwars games and Tomb Raider series.StarWars on Atari ST (83), rendered wireframe, was in fact very dynamic, although this computer did far more better later (Starglider 2, etc.). |
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| 02-03-08 / 11:58 PM : DFH2 / EZDrummer / DFH Superior (cjed) |
 Audiofanzine provides a review of Drumkit From Hell 2 (80$, based on Kompakt, demo at soundsonline). Toontrack also provides its own drums sampler software, EZ Drummer (144$), instead of Kompakt, that allows to set elements position in 3D, and a DFH (first version) module for EZ Drumer (66$). The ultimate version, DFH Superior (250 euros), includes 40 Gb of samples (2,3Gb in DFH2). |
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| 02-03-08 / 11:30 PM : Best Service Drums Overkill (cjed) |
 Best Service Drums Overkill, presented a year ago, is a drums library that brings 27000 samples, including drum boxes and percussions. Added effects to the bundled Kontakt 2 Player allow to completely modify the kits elements.We can watch videos here (250 euros, 1 DVD), and some reviews (here and there). The acoustic kits are however said to be less powerfull than those from BFD. |
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| 02-03-08 / 11:04 PM : BestService Artist Complete (cjed) |
 BestService Artist Complete, that includes Artist Grooves, Artist Drums and Artist Rhythm, can now be found at 109 euros. Artist Drums kits are the same as the ones used in the Artist Grooves loops, with natural reverberation recorded (release trails, whose length can be edited in Kontakt).We can listen to audio demos here (Artist Complete) and there (Artist Drums, also here). Artist Drums kits are said to be more ready to use than recent libraries such as DFH (requires some editing to achieve a realistic sound, despite a far more higher number of hit hat and cymbals samples), and they are rumored to be far more original than StormDrum and Colossus kits. |
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| 02-03-08 / 10:16 PM : Radeon 9600 Pro / ATI Displays / unstretched (cjed) |
| We can find at anandTech an old review of Radeon 9600 Pro Mac&PC Edition. The pdf documentation on ATI site includes ATI Displays screenshots where we can see an overscan settings tab (Display Scaling, allows to select a stretch value in percent, so centering without stretching should be possible). However this utility (4.5.7 version, now compatible with OEM cards without the need for Radeon Enabler freeware, including G4 MDD OEM Radeon 9000 Pro) does not provide such settings tab on a G4 MDD with the Radeon 9000 Pro (OEM). Then the 9600 Pro may be required (the 9800 Pro being too power hungry, being too hot and leading to high noise) despite being overpriced (199$, no price cut since its introduction in 2005). Recent cards 4 times more powerfull cost half the price. |
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| 02-01-08 / 11:44 PM : Elite Orchestral Percussion (cjed) |
 Vir2 Instruments presents Elite Orchestral Percussion, a Kontakt 2 player based instrument that brings 19Gb of orchestral percussions (250 sounds) : bass drums, snare drums, cymbals of every type, chimes, gongs, handbells, mallets, tambourines, timpani, triangles, wind chimes, wood blocks, accessories, FX, ethnic & world instruments. The plugin allows to introduce randomization, and provides many articulations : flams, 3-stroke ruffs, chokes, rolls, etc. An impulse response based reverb, EZRoom, adds various ambiences (chapels and concert halls, caverns, chambers, small rooms), and this time with minimal processor hit.It is priced 400$, and audio demos are available. |
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| 02-01-08 / 11:37 PM : Unreal Tournament 3 preview (cjed) |
| IMG provides a preview of Unreal Tournament 3, that is being ported to mac by MacSoft. The Guardian also published an interview of Mark Rein, Epic co-founder, about UT3 first reactions and the next generation game engine, the Unreal Engine 4. |
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