GTA Oz Release Date <3:00 PM CST - schu>
GTA Oz, previously known as GTA Aus, has a release date!  Byron is reporting that GTA Oz will be out on March 6th (Australian time).  Not only that but Byron sent in a screenshot of the map and some of the cars.  The map is slightly blurred to keep people from copying anything, but you can still get the general idea.

Aqutiv's GTA2 Mission Pack <6:30 PM CST - schu>
Aqutiv has released his new mission pack for GTA2.  Its available on his site, BUSTED!.  Here's the latest from Aqutiv on his mission pack and a screenshot:

"A new mission pack is made, it replaces the 2 green Mafia phones and all the Zaibatsu missions. Actually, the original idea was to replace all the third level missions together with Exc0r5, but this never worked out, also because now the map editor is available, and we both want to start making real mods. Also added to the mission pack, is the source for the second Russian mission, so it can be case studied...  more info about the missions is in the readme file.
 
It can be downloaded from my page, or with this url: busted.niteshade.net/Files/AquExc-pack.zip
 
Also you might want to know that there is now an expanded GTA2 Editing section on BUSTED! with a GTA2 Map Editing FAQ. (small at the minute, but will expand as soon as I get some questions from users) and a GTA2 Scripting Guide is, supposedly, coming soon!"

  
The LingSter's Anniversary & New Car Reviews <6:30 PM CST - schu>
The LingSter will be celebrating his one year GTA anniversary come March 10th with some new changes to his site and the re-release of his second car.  Along with his announcement he also sent in this nifty shot of the re-released car.  Here is the announcement he sent in:

"March 10th I celebrate my 1 year anniversary.  I celebrate this with 2 things.  One, an anniversary car... err. um.. TRUCK.  A remake of my second ever GTA car made, the Snowplow.  The second thing I celebrate is the opening of a new cars site.  Yes, for a year, I have not showcased anyone else's cars but my own.  Now, I have changed this.   I, like GTAzz, will be doing reviews of the cars that are sent in, and giving awards out to those that are the best for that week. If you could send any cars that you make to gtacars@rochester.rr.com along with your regular sites that you send to.  But please, follow this simple rule:    All cars must be in a zip file, with a gif of the car, and a readme.txt file explaining what the car is."

 
GTA Community Radio <6:30 PM CST - schu>
Acid2000 is planning on organizing a GTA/GTA2 weekly radio program that anyone can take part in, check the announcement from Acid2000 and get more on this over at The GTA2 Attack Shack.

Since the GTA and GTA 2 community seems to be in a slump I have had a cunning plan to restore that good old community spirit. The first ever... drum role please...GTA and GTA 2 Community Internet Radio or GTA Net Radio. 
What will it have?

• A weekly news update
• The latest editors, car and maps
• GTA oddities
• Interviews
• Tutorials and more

The idea is to produce a weekly Internet radio show focused on the GTA community. You will be able to hear this through your computer only if you have Real Player. However I can't do this single handed and if I did it wouldn't be community would it. First of all vote in the poll at the site if you think this is a good idea. When the results are known I will start working, if that's what people want. What I need from the community will be people who feel that they would be able to contribute something to GTA Net Radio i.e. Presenters, editors, writers etc. etc... Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

  
Announcements <6:30 PM CST - schu>

• Congrats to Tiffany on her 70,000 visitor mark, check out her update in Community News.
• Graham, creator of GTA Hawaii, is putting together a GTA website.  If you have a banner that you'd like Graham to post on his site, you can send it to him at gta_hawaii@hotmail.com.  The only stipulations are that the banners contain no swearing and be kept to a reasonable size.  Expect Graham's site to go live in about a week or two.
• Devil is hard at work testing the new fix for GTA2 Mainframe which should be posted on Gamer's Army shortly.  Devil mentioned that the remote cfg should alert GTA2 Mainframe users about the update and point them to the download location.  The new fix will also allow Teknics and Devil to set a message that will give details on the latest updates and will be displayed when a user browses the update page.
• GTAPL has been reworked a bit with new fonts, optimized graphics for faster load times and a new flash intro.  GTAPL also has about a million urls currently, check em out at www.gta.w.pl or www.gtapl.w.pl or www.gtapl.z.pl or private.psi.com.pl.gtapl.
• MicSoft InterActive Design is thinking about putting together a GTA2 site and would like some input on what you'd like to see.  If you have any good ideas you can send em to webmaster@micsoft.findhere.org.  You can also check out the GTA2 flash animation on the MicSoft site in the News section.

Project News <6:30 PM CST - schu>

• GTA Aus Within Sight
  Well Byron never got anyone to help out with the mission.ini part of the project so he gave up and decided to teach himself how to edit the ini.  Luckily it seems to be going well and with Respray's help with the cars, GTA Aus is nearing completion.  Here are two updates from Byron, one from Friday when I was gone and one today:

  2/25
  "I've been working on GTA AUS (or GTA OZ, as it's now called) all week. I'm waiting for Respray to return some cars which he's going to delta up, and that'll  *almost* wrap it up... =) (yes, the entire project) There's still the slight problem with the missions, and as of yet I've received NO emails from volunteers after the plea has appeared on G! and AGGTA... So, everything will be TOTALLY finished except the missions, which aren't even started. Great, huh? So, it looks like I'll have to write them myself, and I have *0* experience in mission.ini... Can you spell delay? Goddamnit this f*cking sucks !!!!!"

  2/28
  "Got some really good news... I've been playing around with mission.ini today, and it's quite easy to edit once you understand it. I'm going to copy across missions from the original GTA and GTA LONDON and edit them (change co-ords, text, and some other bits).

  So, if everything goes well (which it hasn't, for a lot of the time), I might have the missions done by next Sunday... (including deathmatch missions)

  Other than the missions, just about everything is done. I'm awaiting a car which is being delta-ed up by Respray, I've got to make some final tidying up on the map, and... that's it!

  I've got the police setup, and OMFG it's so funny... I've got one car set to every 1 or 2 blocks, so you have about double the police after you compared to the original GTA ! HEHEHE..."

 
Community News <6:30 PM CST - schu>

• Tiffany's Unofficial GTA Shrine
  "I just wanna thank all the visitors to my GTA Shrine. My 70,000th visitor was there February 26th. =-)"
   
• PSX GTA
  "I have updated my entire Playstation GTA Web Site, home of the GTA Guides.  There are new better looking graphics and easier navigation. I have codes, vehicle lists, and mission and secret guides for GTA, GTA: London 1969, and GTA 2 (Industrial Sector incomplete)."
   
• GTACS3
  "Ive decided to open the GTACS:3 just for news at the moment,it will be updated every day (I promise) and I will add new sections when I build them.

  Go to gtacs.hypermart.net, I assure you,you won't be disappointed

  I am Also looking for a couple of newsies so send me an e-mail if you want a job, no slackers though,I want people who will update about once every 3 days!"

• EGP4
  "Hiyall out there (about 70 persons) this is just a news flash, the page EGP is NOT down, if you thought so, even if there has been like a week or two since the last update, I'll be working with EGP 4 more soon. Maybe I'll put it down later cause me and my friend is working on a music page, I think the phenomenon music will last longer than the GTA 2 scene, anyone wanna bet? ;))
   
  But, until then, I'll be working with EGP 4 too!"

  
Site Updates <6:30 PM CST - schu>
Well I'm back...  As you can see I didn't get much news on Friday morning so I didn't post an update.  The trip went pretty well and The Kids in the Hall live show kicked ass.  If you've never seen the show you should really try and check it out sometime.  They stopped making new shows awhile back but the reruns are shown on Comedy Central twice a day and you can probably pick em up on vid elsewhere.  Minneapolis was actually a little larger than I pictured it and had some pretty cool things to do, although I avoided The Mall of America like the plague.  Considering I can't stand the stupidity of most people in a regular sized mall I don't think I could handle a jumbo mall.  I did find some pretty cool used record stores and stuff though not too far from the hotel :).

"As you may know from reading the GTA 2 Mainframe readme.txt I am a Mainframe programmer (Teknics is the lead programmer + producer). Well I was contacted by Teknics to mainly help him with handling the Internet communications protocols code, which Mainframe uses to download the remote settings file. Well I have a bit of a confession to make, you see currently Mainframe has a serious bug in it which makes it impossible to run Mainframe without a Internet connection (unless it has already got the remote settings previously that day). Well I have been working very hard to try and fix this problem because it really spoils Mainframe as it was developed to be used off-line as well as online. I am glad to be able to report that Mainframe is nearly fixed and that I should be uploading the fixed exe soon. As some people may know Mainframe has a autoupdate feature which will make it alert the user to the availability of new versions and bug fixes. Although this feature was not used for the first update (I Teknics forgot about it) I am planning on using it for the second update. Also I am currently writing a special CGI which Mainframe will use for the (currently disabled) broken link reporting function. As for the update it may be packaged as is (i.e just the exe) or the installer may be recompiled using the fixed program, I will have to talk to Teknics about that. Last but not least I'd like to apologize for not noticing the off-line bug with Mainframe before it's official release and I hope that it did not spoil anyone's enjoyment of this." 

  
Site Updates <7:30 PM CST - schu>
I'll try and post an update for Friday, assuming something comes in.  If there isn't and update by 8am CST there won't be one because I'll be on the road by then.

• No Fear sent word that GTA2 More Extreme has a new maps section, check it out over at gtaextreme.niteshade.net.
• Byron is planning on posting a web page for GTA Aus, but it mainly depends on how the redevelopment process goes.  As far as I know Byron is still looking for help with the mission.ini end of the GTA Aus project.  If you have any skill in this area please contact Byron and help finish GTA Aus.

Project News <4:00 PM CST - schu>

• GTA - Shut Up and Shoot!
  Johan Brodd sent in a update on his GTA clone, along with three screen shots (1, 2, 3):

  The story so far:
  You're a cop. You've been sent to prison unjustly, and been there the last 15 years.  While you were in prison the underworld ran rampant around the city, making it a nest for terror and hatred.

  Freed from prison you've just got one goal: Be the boss of the streets.  You start up with a car, a wallet with $500 and unarmed. You need first of all lay your hands upon a jolly good gun.

  Cityscape / Styles:
  I've decided to cut down on graphics due to the heavy size (11 Mb), I'm plotting the graphics my self to save memory.

  Can I add my own cities?
  You can add your own cities, yes. But you're gonna need The Games Factory 1.04 to do this.

  
Community News <4:00 PM CST - schu>

• Tiffany's Unofficial GTA Shrine
  Rusty send some new miscellaneous & W.I.L.D.C.A.T.S. mugshots, I've added some new cars, and updated the GTA FAQ!

  
Site Updates <4:00 PM CST - schu>
I may or may not be doing an update on Friday.  If I do an update it will probably appear early in the morning (1 or 2am).  I'm going to Minneapolis, MN to see The Kids In The Hall, live performance and I'll be leaving around 9am on Friday which doesn't leave much time for an update.  But if I have something to post I'll do it early Friday or late Thursday.  Anyone know anything fun to do in Minneapolis?  Lemme know...

GTA2 Mainframe <11:59 PM CST - schu>
Gamer's Army has released their Swiss Army Knife of a GTA2 util.  It opens up to an interface with buttons leading to a web browser, html editor, ftp util, search engine, plans manager, SEQ editor, MMP editor, access to GTA2 toolkit, etc.  It also has plans to support an MP3 player and an email client in the future.  Check out Teknics' official announcement below for more details:

"Hey everyone the long delayed GTA2 Mainframe is finally here! After several last minute bug squashings it has finally been uploaded all 2.9Megs. It contains Browser, HTML Editor, FTP Access, MMP and SEQ Editors, a .plan's manager, and a special GTA2 Dynamic Links feature. Be sure to read the readme for more information on all the wonderful features. Some special notes on this program are necessary. First this program is legally and fully copyrighted by the good folks at Night Shade Entertainment. More on that is in the readme. Also very important note on installation. The installing program (used by iD software as it is a professional installer) installs a special file called FTP.OCX into the folder you choose GTA2 Mainframe to be installed to. If you want the FTP to work you *MUST* copy and paste this file into your "Windows\System" Folder. (generally C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM).  Without doing that the program will not run correctly. Also you must have an active Internet connection to run this program.

Run on over to www.niteshade.net to view the full update or type in this to your browser to download - ftp://niteshade.net/favorites/Setup.exe
 

Cotton Town <11:59 PM CST - schu>
Piraat (website) has been working on a GTA map entitled Cotton Town for awhile now and he has decided to release a beta version.  Judging from a quick peek with J25 and Cotton Town's list of features it looks pretty extensive.  The download is a scant 93k and includes the map, an FXT file, a mission.ini file, and a great readme file.  Great readme file?  YES, finally someone whose map has decent documentation :).  The following is from Priaat's email and a list of features mercilessly ripped from the great readme file:

COTTON TOWN is my great project. It took a lot of time but now I am so far that I can release CT's beta version (2.00). This map was  created from scratch and is copyrighted to Piraat (DO NOT modify).  NB! The name of my great project may change but the name of the map will always be Cotton Town.

FEATURES

• 4 well-working trains
• cops, fire dept. , ambulance
• some unique buildings (V.I.P. building, mini-pyramid)
• respray-buildings and bombshop
• some wide freeways, many garages (only 1 active garage in this beta)
• some secret places (well, not SO secret but...)
• many parked cars (including squad car,fire trucks and ambulance-cars)
• 4 missions (incl. 1 training mission)

DOWNLOAD

• cotton2.zip (93k) - gouranga.com
• cotton2.zip (93k) - grandtheftauto.com
• cotton2.zip (93k) - Alternate
  

Announcements <11:59 PM CST - schu>

• Christ...  YAKUZA looked good before but it looks even better now, if you can believe that.  I can honestly say that this site makes me wish I spoke Polish.  Oh, almost forgot, its at a new URL as well, you can find YAKUZA at www.gta2.pl.  Don't speak polish?  Who cares, take a look anyway...
• A few new GTA sites are out there, give em a click, see what you think...
    
  
  • GTA Elite just opened today and is looking sweet
  • GTA2 Warped has actually been going for two months and looks quite good as well
  • God of GTA is mostly up and running using lots of Flash
  • The GTA Crew is sort of there, I'm pretty sure its still under construction.

  
Project News <11:59 PM CST - schu>
Two rather similar updates in Project News today because two GTA projects are coming back from the dead, check it out..

• GTA Aus - Back From The Dead, But Needs Your Help
  Byron, king of all that is X-Com, has decided to break out his shovel and dig up the remains of GTA Aus from his backyard.  Hopefully with some work we will see it this year :).  He mentioned that the map is just about done with only traffic lights left to add and a few places that need to be smoothed out.  Other than that he still has to add a few cars, do sound effects, and deal with some other stuff.  Byron is still looking for people to help out on this project, it pretty much died last time because everyone who was working on the project disappeared.  If you have any GTA mission.ini editing skills, please read his announcement below:

'Hi everyone ! I'm resurrecting GTA AUS ! (Gta Australia) I'm going to finish off this project, and get it off my mind (yes, it's been irritating me that I haven't finished it). Please, if you have mission.ini experience, and I mean GOOD experience, AND you're not planning on deserting any time, like say, ugh, the LAST mission.ini programmer... PLEASE contact me. I'm redoing parts of the project, and I want the missions redone from scratch.  So, if you have experience, please contact me. This project will be the BEST GTA TC released, if we can get it done. And, of course, you'll be credited... So, gimme a yell if you're interested !'

• DJ Slam & Slam City - Out of Limbo
  If you've been around the GTA scene for awhile you might remember a project called Slam City, a creation of DJ Slam.  Well DJ Slam is back, albeit now known as Davie Slam, and he is pulling the toe tag off of Slam City.  The map's construction was started over a year ago and, armed with new GTA editing techniques, Davie Slam is in the process of making new tiles for it.  Hopefully I'll have some more updates from Davie in the near future.

New GTA Sites <11:59 PM CST - schu>

• GTA Elite
• GTA2 Warped
• God of GTA
• GTA Crew

  
Site Updates <11:59 PM CST - schu>
This update is sooooo late its not even funny...  Actually this went out early Tuesday, but I'm willing screw with the laws of time and space to get it posted by 11:59pm Monday :).  After all, its still Monday on the Pacific coast.

Project News <8:10 PM CST - schu>

• The Latest On Wild Wild West
  X-Mail brings us the latest news on his project, Wild Wild West:
  

  
  News:

  1. I'm still working on WWW, but I don't know what I'll do when it's done. I can't send big files. I hope it works with ICQ...
  2. I made a new Building-Skin, you can see it on some of the screenshots. You can also watch a few new cars (3 old ones are left)
  3. I made a new Flamethrower, I hope you'll like it..



Files:

• 7 Screenshots
  ( 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 -7 )
  
  

  
Info:


Wild Wild West is not an add-on (new missions etc.)! It's a patch which transforms San Andreas into a wild west.

  
Community News <8:10 PM CST - schu>

• Tiffany's Unofficial GTA Shrine - New Cars & Updates
  I've added about 70 new cars to the Car Depot (54 courtesy of Fan Anf), and I've updated the Links, GTA FAQ and Submit Stuff pages! Also, if anyone has a list of the car names for GTA2, it would really help me update the site. 
   
• AGGTA - Updating Once Again
  At last, after months of cursing over lost files and a broken hard disk, aggta.co.uk has been released.  AGGTA being alt.games.grand-theft-auto, and aggta.co.uk being it's home page.
  
  Point of this site?  To have the latest news, first with loads of bits 'n bobs, and all the details you could ever want on the GTA scene.  We are hoping it will be the most popular GTA site on the net, second only to Gouranga :o)
  
  So, if you want to kinda.. erm.... plug it for us, that would be kinda cool :o)
   
• Hughesies Hut - Back On The Scene
  Hughesies Hut (HH) is finally coming back to the GTA scene after a couple of months absence.  The new site will be up on Sunday night (UK Time) at the latest but I am aiming for a Saturday release.  A couple of people have asked my what I have been doing, and well I told them all the same - College and a part time job - Us College students really have it hard !! :o)
   
  I have now finally had time to finish off the HH Revamp and re-release it.  The cars sections will be continually updated by Da Cop (when his Internet connection works) and almost daily news.
   
  This is the fourth incarnation of the site, and I hope you would agree that it looks the best yet.  It's taken me bloody ages so you had better agree :o )
   
  If people want to help on the site, then I still have a few areas that need some work.  I need  someone to help on the GTa2 section and a projects manager is also needed.  To take up these roles, please fill in the form at: hughesieshut.niteshade.net/joinhh.html - More newsupdaters are also welcome if they wish to become part of the HH team (Currently comprising of 5 members)
   
  If anybody has any problems, they can E-Mail me at mikehughes@hughesieshut.freeserve.co.uk or I can be contacted on ICQ.  My number is:
   
  44572542 
   
  So, if you want to check out the new HH, go to the usual URL this weekend and see the new site in all it's splendour :o ) 
   
  
• GTA ThinkTank - Technical Difficulties
  Hello again guys its me spacemonkey from GTA Thinktank the site is currently not being updated because the news login script has crashed :( .  On that subject I am getting Stig to investigate.  Also we are looking for news updaters, etc at gtathinktank please email me if your interested (spacemonkey@ecosse.net).  Also the IRC channel the Gamers Army and GTA Thinktank partnership is looking for more channel operators if your interested again please email me (spacemonkey@ecosse.net).  However the channel is always dead!  No one ever comes to #thegta on Random Dalnet.  
  
  Also please DO NOT email me regarding warez of GTA, I received an email asking me how to fix some guys warez version of GTA2  (PLEASE NOTE: the GTA community does not like warez) if you do contact me regarding any warez I will ignore you and if you continue to contact me about it I may report you to your ISP/email provider.  Well folks that's my news or crap over with until next time. (I hope schu gets this email cause flaming Winblows 98 (damn u bill gates) is going weird and crashing and stuff ,so is outlook exploder well see ya's <<DA sPaCeMoNkEy>>

Check back tomorrow for Community and Project news and hopefully something else assuming I can turn something up by then...

Supporting The Cause <10:30 PM CST - schu>
WaterRat 's GTA site, Supporting The Cause, is online with an interesting twist.  It features your standard issue news, files, links, and cars sections, but here is where the twist comes in.  Water Rat has also incorporated two rather interesting sections called, "Your Part" and "Challenge."  The "Your Part" section is exactly what it sounds like, its a section where you can take part, mainly in the form of car reviews, car awards, and that type of thing.  The "Challenge" section opens fan participation to a wider audience including three challenges currently, a new one coming soon, and if you're not satisfied with the challenges presented, suggest your own.  So far it looks quite good, get over to get.to/stc_gta and check it out.

Site Updates <10:30 PM CST - schu>
Not much going down today, its been a pretty slow week so far and it doesn't seem to be getting any better.

Mugwum Returning?