Some modnews
30th December 2003 by Kristian "biXen" Hollund

New Battle Tactics mod in the works from Froz
Froz, the man behind many of the most original mods for Max Payne and one of the guys behind the upcoming The Real World (Matrix mod for Max Payne 1), are currently working on a follow-up mod for his Max Payne 2 Mod Battle Tactics ,which you can find in our mod section. This new mod is titled Ruination and is set in a post-apocalyptic New York, supposedly it will involve a mix of Real-time and turn-based fighting, borrowing some elements from his original Battle Tactics mod. You can get a tad more info about the mod and one more shot on Froz' own page here.

Official Max Payne 2 Screenshot Contest
28th December 2003 by Kristian "biXen" Hollund

Send in your best shots to win nice prizes

This is what they write at 3DRealms.com:

"We want you to send in your best Max Payne screenshot in the following categories:

1. Action -- Looking for a shot that shows cool action, maybe a gunfight or an explosion, etc. This shot might show slow motion action, and might include bullets caught in flight (either from Max's weapon, or heading toward Max, or both).
2. Cool moves -- This show shows Max and/or other characters involved in a John Woo-style move, evading danger or upholding the law with lead teeth.
3. Humor -- This is a shot that is in some way funny or unexpected. We'll leave it at that!

We'll have three winners in three categories (One winner, and two runners up). The top winner in each category will get an autographed collectible copy of Max Payne 2 (for the PC) from the Remedy team, as well as a Max Payne 2 windbreaker jacket. The first runner up will get a Max Payne 2 T-Shirt, & Max Payne 2 Pin Set. The second runner up will get one of our $35 Gift Certificates for use for 3D Realms games/merchandise.

Every person can submit only one screen shot per category, for a total maximum of three screen shots - Please do not resubmit saying "Please use this one over the other one I sent" - make sure your best shot is sent in first, as multiple submissions will be rejected. Also, do not edit the shots in any way - the point here is to come up with good Max Payne screenshots, not to see how good you are with Photoshop or some other editing tool. UPDATE: When sending in your shot, tell us which of the categories it is for!

The shots will be judged by Remedy and 3D Realms, who'll pick the winners. Each category will have a unique winner (a single person cannot win in more than one category). You can send in your submissions to maxshots@3drealms.com. If you are sending in more than one at a time, please zip them up to make sorting easier on this end. You can also put them online somewhere, and send in an email link to the screenshot(s). Also, please note that resubmitting the exact picture that won in the previous contest won't count - you can't submit the same shot as the winners of the first contest again, even redone in Max 2 - come up with something more original than that. :)"

Good luck to those of you that participate.

Modnews
There are some nice mods in the work, and I'll get back to that in the start of 2004, hope everyone had a nice Payneful Christmas, see you in the next year everyone, thanks for your support.

For now check out a good Matrix lobby level made by Jokke_r (it's still just an Alpha version) and the best tweak mod, Cinema 1.6 by TerminX, they are in the mod section, our new affiliate Levels 4 You is the download source for these mods.

Official Max Payne 2 Mod Contest
14th December 2003 by Kristian "biXen" Hollund

Make a mod and win great prizes
Rockstar Games have announced a contest for Max Payne 2 whereby making a mod in 3 different classes you can win a Falcon Northwest PC, an ATI RADEON™ 9800 XT or a Logitech® Cordless MX™ Duo keyboard and mouse. What do you need to do to win you say? Well, there's 3 different categories:

Best Original Mod (Prize: the Falcon Northwest PC)
Utilizing all elements of the Max Payne Max-Ed tools, the winner will create an original mod that expands the gameplay of Max Payne 2. Let your imagination run wild or simply extend the story included with the retail game. The choices in this category are all yours. Length of gameplay is not central to winning this category; rather the most complete, finely tuned mod that brings to life either a new way of playing Max Payne 2 or an exhilarating extension of its current gameplay will be crowned the winner.

As its title implies, originality counts as much as technical skill. Whether its a well-written and unique story, a new mode of play unlike any we’ve seen before, or a visual style that surprises and delights, the game is your canvas.

Best DMW Map (Prize: the ATI Radeon 9800 XT)
Mods worthy of this category will create a new Max Payne 2 Dead Man Walking bonus level. The winner will be the level that best expresses the speed and frenzied excitement inherent in the Dead Man Walking gameplay mode, without altering the mode’s fundamental gameplay rules. Once again, originality will be considered as part of the judging criteria, along with technical expertise and overall level design.

Best real-time non-interactive movie (Machinima) (Prize: the Logitech cordless Duo)
Utlizing the Max Payne Max-Ed tools, the winner will create a short, scripted film based around either elements contained inside Max Payne 2 or custom skins, textures and environments. Length of film is not central to winning, rather the most complete, well edited and best sound-designed film that conveys a storyline will be crowned the winner. Can be based on a mod or on the game as shipped.

All winners will get this pack of MP2 goodies:



Some of the more experienced modders have uttered a concern that this contest may make people less sharing when it comes to solutions and ideas, and also that it feels like R* is forcing great mods out instead of seeing what will come. I share some of that concern, and for my own sake I think I'll make my DMW map for myself first and foremost, any acknowledgement from the public is a bonus, and the same I think from the people that does stuff for this contest. I think if you do this just because you want to win something you probably will not win. Anyway, check out official page for more info and rules, contest submissions must be in by 15th of May 2004. Good luck, may the best modder win :)

Another big update
2nd December 2003 by Kristian "biXen" Hollund

Patience is a virtue
Time really moves faster between these updates. I've occupied myself with designing my design company page and mapping + guitar, and it's sometimes hard to squeeze in Max Payne, but I'm going to try to keep you updated on the most important stuff. There might be some very good changes on that in the future, so hang in there :) For now check out the updates for this last period in time.

Interview with Petri Järvilehto of Remedy
The Italian site NextGame has a little interview with Petri Järvilehto and it's a nice little read asking some questions about Max Payne 2 and it's expectations and all. Read it at NextGame. Thanks to Simone Soletta for submitting the news.

Two good DMW maps released
That's right. Two pretty good DMW maps have been released since our last post, they are in our Max Payne 2 Levels section where I've also updated about all earlier levels worth playing, I sort out the trash for you my dear users... hahah, right... no really I do... So, go and download now.

Tutorial page updated a tad
No, I still haven't redone the tutorial page properly, and the one tutorial I'd like to make I think would be useless for 90% of modders, but still, the section will be very much improved as soon as I have the time. But I've made a tiny good update now, check it out.

Massive Katana 2 Updates
Bad boy StratonAce has released some fine video of Katana 2 gameplay to Deep Six, you can check out the gameplay video here. Strat continues to spoil us with swordslicing goodies. Apparently some more videos should come soon.