April 16th, 2010 UPDATE: This article is out of date. The Killer App Mod v1.1 has been released.


Download the KILLER APP Mod Preview Trailer


Download the KILLER APP Mod Test Footage

The TRON 2.0 KILLER APP Mod is either one of the best or worst kept secrets in the TRON 2.0 PC gaming community right now. And as of late, it seems to have become the latter. Because recently I've noticed hits to this site, with search terms like killer app mod download.

I didn't want to announce or advertise this project (which is the one I was referring to in this earlier post) here on this site, because I prefer to announce things when they are done and ready. Announcing projects early, usually leads to less enthusiasm when it's released. It's always better when something is an unexpected surprise. Also, sometimes even with the best of intentions: unforeseen circumstances can arise, and the project can run away from you. This is definitely what has happened with the KILLER APP Mod.

But since I am seeing people searching for information about the mod, I've decided to post some info about its current status.

The KILLER APP Mod is almost complete, and will be privately beta tested by the contributors to the project. Most of whom are members of LDSO. Contributors to the mod are Zook_One, Kain-Xavier, 9VoltChicken, Raven, win3k, Mor.Evil-1, Load"*",8,1, and myself.

Some of the major features of the KILLER APP Mod are:

• New Multiplayer Characters such as Sark, Thorne, the DataWraith, etc. by Zook_One
• New Multiplayer Skins by Kain-Xavier, which are improved versions of the skins from his earlier KMX Skins Mod
• New Rod Primitive and Energy Claw Weapons in Multiplayer Derez
• New Light Cycle Colors by Raven, Kain-Xavier, and myself
• Enhanced Light Cycle Trails and New Flashing Wheel Spokes
• Fixes to Single Player Text and Level Design errors

The KILLER APP Mod is a merger of Kain-Xavier's KMX Skins Mod, Raven's Light Cycle Colors Mod, and my own Orange Light Cycle Unlock Mod, but with plenty of additional enhancements.

The mod is currently not available for download anywhere, and won't be until it's complete. The release of the mod will occur in December. I won't go into all the various factors that are responsible for the slow progress on the project. But suffice to say, the mod is nearly ready and will be released before the year's end. The team is committed to completing this project no later than Christmas, and probably earlier than that.

Before I conclude, I'll just add that the preview trailer for the mod was made many months ago and does not accurately represent the current state of the KILLER APP Mod. Many improvements and additions have been made since that time. Some of the Light Cycle colors have been revised to look different, new colors have been added, and the Multiplayer Character skins have since been improved.

If you'd like to find out some more information on the mod, and see more up to date screenshots, then visit the following links:

ModDB KILLER APP Mod page
LDSO KILLER APP Mod forum section

Back in May, it was confirmed by Disney Interactive that remakes of the TRON Arcade game and Discs of TRON would eventually appear on XBOX Live Arcade for the 360. The games were to be released "in celebration" of TRON's 25th Anniversary. Yet here we are in October, and they still haven't been released. Way to miss the point, Disney.

So when are they going to be released? In July, I discovered a page on the MSN Games site that listed both TRON Arcade game and Discs of TRON as having a September 30th release date, which has come and gone. Since then, I've learned that Live Arcade games are only released on Wednesdays. And since the 30th was a Sunday — that, plus the fact that the 30th was the last day of Q3 2007 — leads me to believe that the date was simply a placeholder in absence of concrete information.

Various gaming sites and even the Disney Interactive site itself, have listed the release dates variously as Summer 2007, Q3 2007, and now finally "TBA". On Major Nelson's site (he's a member of the XBOX Marketing team at Microsoft), it shows that this Wednesday's (as of this writing) Live Arcade release is neither of the TRON games. So apparently, the date from the MSN Games wasn't even good as a rough indicator of when we could expect the games. So basically, at this point, we have no real idea as to when the games will be released.

Perhaps there's a slim chance the releases are being held up, due to the fact that Microsoft is preparing a version of Live for Windows that will bring it up to par with what XBOX users expect from the service. At the moment, Live can only be used in Windows games that are Live-enabled (Shadowrun and Halo 2). Microsoft is planning to break Live out of the games and make it a separate application that can be run at any time, independently. They also plan to bring a version of the service to Windows XP, rather than keeping it Vista-exclusive as originally intended. The improved Games for Windows Live is supposed to make its appearance in November. Maybe Disney Interactive is preparing Windows versions of the games as well, and will release both 360 and Windows versions simultaneously? Who knows.