Initially, I really disliked the Lightning Gun. To me, it didn't have the heft and "feel" of a solid sniping weapon. As such, I was a huge proponent of bringing back the Sniper Rifle in later titles. As time went on and I played more with both, I really grew to appreciate the Lightning Gun.

To the casual gamer, the two weapons are pretty much just the same thing with a different visual and so their opinions are largely based upon that. To the hardcore player, its the subtle differences that can really make or break a weapon. I like them both for their small differences, and these days I could really go either way except for one fact: nostalgia.

We amped up the fiction of the Sniper a bit in UC2 -- it fired a shard of enriched Tarydium instead of just a bullet, and therefore left a glowing blue trail. Although there are still obvious differences, that did help address some of the big problems with the 2k4 Sniper vs. Lightning Gun. Joe Graf used to run around the office cheering that UC2's rifle had the best feel of and Sniper he'd played. I thought it was pretty diggity, too -- especially for a console.

I'll leave the current implimentation of the Sniper as a surprise for you guys, but I do feel confident in telling you that there are no plans to impliment a Lightning gun in this title.

Just to clarify, I'm not saying that we're using the UC2 design as a basis for UT. I was merely pointing out that we made a change to the fiction which made it more of an "Unreal weapon" and less of a "real-world weapon" that also allowed us to do more with it, such as the trail.

With regards to the triple shot fire (and inability to get head shots while unzoomed) on the UC2 Sniper, I think that it was absolutely the right decision to make for that game. For UT, it would be a whole different story.

Lastly, I do like the Lightning Gun, and it certainly has its place (as I said before) in that game. I think that one of the cool things that people need to consider in 2k4 maps is which of the two weapons to place, as it can have a pretty significant influence on how the map plays out (as is the case with all weapon placement). It's now permenantly part of the Unreal Arsenal, and there's no saying it won't make a comeback at a later date. Just like the Ripper, Stinger, Enforcers...

Gameplay:
• Using Dump shot mode keeps you slowed down for 1.0s after releasing (so you can't run as fast as you want with the ball if you do it right....did) penalty box is of not much use \o/)
• "Weird HAX" fixed
• Duelcube works fine again
• Self volleys with more than 7 players on the server are no longer being slowed down
• Hard shots (the ones with fire trail) will hurt and kick enemy field players in case of deflect
• Using bounce on a curved shot removes the spin from the ball in order to avoid an unfair exploit
• Dribbling (held rmb) does no longer cause a volley delay for the enemy, so he can kick the dribbled ball away easily (already since last version, but wasn't listed)
• Balls don't go through players anymore (got screwed up last version)

Other:
• You don't see your own rings anymore when you look down in Cube as ballcarrier
• Ballcarrier now also has the ball-sparkle effect
• Center Spawning Player is now randomized (It used to depend on the keeper. So if the keeper was always the same, the middle spawner was the same too)
• All balls now have trails, also pass and dump (already since last version, but wasn't listed)
• Duelcube automatically disables replays, because they screw up the goal order and you may have 2 goals opened at the same time
• Server no longer crashes when you hold the ball during map change (finally)