A Silly Max Payne Fan Video

This week we were given a fan made "Max Payne 3" video. The problem is we don't know who authored it, or why or anything like that. Normally when we do a news story about fan materials, we know who did it. This time we don't. If you are one of the people involved, drop us an email about it.

It's quite good, in it, the plotline for Max Payne 3: The Fall of Hobos and Senior Citizens is given. Max realized who was the cause of all his problems - it was the hobos and senior citizens in the games, so he goes off on a vendetta blowing them up. Some of it is laugh out loud funny. If you're a fan of Max Payne 2, you should check out this video.

You can download it here or via one of the links here.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 12:40 PM

Update to the Commander Keen FAQ

Here's another old time game that has had something new for it put out. The classic Commander Keen from 1990/1991 has had it's FAQ updated. Keen is a classic game that had a lot to do with the early success of this company, as well as id Software. If you've never tried out Keen, it's still available - we have demo/shareware versions on our downloads page.

The game hasn't been updated since 1991, but the FAQ is new. Check out the latest version here - it's chock full of goodness. If you're a fan of Commander Keen, give it a read.

Also, check out our FAQ section of the website, it has FAQ's on several of our games, including Sam Stoddard's most excellent "Apogee/3DR FAQ". Sam's FAQ covers just about any piece of minutiae about our company history that you'd want to know. And of course, in a Keen related link, if there's anything you ever wanted to know about the Keen character of Dopefish, then check out the Official Dopefish site here.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 12:40 PM

Max Payne 2 Review

Is Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne the very best in its class? The answer to that is an undeniable �yes�.

That's what the GamingWorldX web site has to say about Max Payne 2 in their review. They really liked the game, here's a bit more of what they had to say:

What makes Max Payne 2 so compelling is how polished it is.

The story itself is one of Max Payne 2�s greater accomplishments, offering up a gritty, sexy, roller coaster ride that twists and turns from start to finish.

The Fall of Max Payne looks excellent, thanks in large part to that Havok physics engine that makes every body, crate, and piece of furniture move with astonishing realism.

Max Payne had style, but Max Payne 2 blows it away.

Go check out the full review here. And if you haven't done so yet, you can pick up your copy of Max Payne 2 for the PC, Xbox, or PS2 right now! Or head to our downloads page to grab a free demo for the PC. You can get further information on Max Payne 2 over at the official site at http://www.maxpayne2.com.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 12:40 PM

Official Max Payne 2 Modding Contest Almost Closed

Do you consider yourself a good game modder? Well, now's the time to prove it. Remedy & Rockstar are running an official Mod Contest where you can enter and win prizes! There's three sections to the contest you can enter in - they are:

* Best Original Mod - expand the gameplay of Max Payne 2 with a completely original and imaginative creation.
* Best New Dead Man Walking Level - create a compelling new level for the Dead Man Walking play mode.
* Best Real-Time Non-Interactive Movie - using the MaxED tools, create the best entry in the new art form known as machinima.

The deadline for entry is May 15, 2004. To enter download the Max Payne 2 mod tools and tutorials here, create a kickass new modification and then visit the official mod contest page to submit your creation.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 12:40 PM

New Sam Lake Interview

This morning we were told of a new interview with Sam Lake of Remedy, the man behind the writing in the two Max Payne games. To that, this new interview is mostly about the writing of Max Payne, and Sam's work on it. Here's a few tidbits from it:

Q: Writing is an area often underappreciated in videogames. How did you get into it?

A: I was asked, simple as that. Petri J�rvilehto, one of the founding members of Remedy, is a long time friend of mine. They were working on Remedy's first game, Death Rally, and needed someone to write the texts for the game. Petri knew of my writing, and asked me. I was studying at university at the time. I was very excited to get any kind of a writing gig. Now, almost nine years later, I'm still at it, so it turned out to be a long term one.

Q: Do you believe that technological advancement and deepening immersion of players into games will decrease the role writing plays, or bolster it?

A: We are still quite far from portraying subtle human emotions in games. We are taking baby steps to that direction, but its slow going. As we get closer to that, closer to the skin as it were, the need for good writing will increase.

Sam has a lot more to say about videogame writing - make sure and check out the full interview over at Jive Magazine today!

Posted by Joe Siegler at 10:45 AM

New Shadow Warrior Maps Available!

Bet you never thought you'd see a news story by us on Shadow Warrior again, did you? Well, we've got one. Recently, our own Charlie Wiederhold released some maps for Shadow Warrior that he's had lying around since around 1998 for an unreleased addon-pack called "Wanton Destruction". Well, Charlie's now released these levels for your registered version of Shadow Warrior. Here's what Charlie has to say about them:

These are the levels I made for Wanton Destruction, an addon for Shadow Warrior by Sunstorm that unfortunately never saw the light of day. The finished version had new sounds, art, anime girls, fortune cookie fortunes, and all sorts of other little things. I personally think it was the best build engine addon Sunstorm made, but that's life. I've tried to track down the entire version but nobody seems to have it anywhere. The airplane map in this set is in my top 3 favorite of all levels I've ever made and is largely responsible for 3D Realms contacting me in the first place to work on Duke Forever when a new mapping position was needed. I hope some of the Shadow Warrior fans can get a little bit of fun from them at least, which is why they were made in the first place. It always pained me that nobody ever had the chance to play them.

So these long dormant levels can now be yours. Of course, you need a registered version of Shadow Warrior, but if you have one, you finally have some more levels to try out in 2004!

You can download them from our site here, or from Charlie's site. Who wants song Wang?

Posted by Joe Siegler at 2:40 PM

Max Payne 2 Wins G.A.N.G. Awards

Who is the G.A.N.G.? They're the "Game Audio Network Guild". This group of folks has several functions, but the primary ones are to educate people about game music, and to provide a resource for composers, designers, and others who have a genuine interest in interactive audio. You can read more about them here.

But, on to the awards. The GANG handed out their annual awards recently, and Max Payne 2 won two categories. The two categories Max Payne 2 won in were:

*Best Original Instrumental Song - "Max Payne Theme"

*Best Original Vocal Song (Pop) - "Late Goodbye"

You can read a complete list of all the nominees and winners at the GANG site on this page.

Remedy sent us a picture of the trophies that they received in their HQ in Finland, and we'd like to share that with you here. Click on it to see a larger version.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 2:40 PM