The A3D Download Drivers page has new version 2.08 A3D reference drivers as well as an updated set of pre-release version 4.06 Vortex 2 (OEM) drivers for Windows 95/98. Also, the 3dfx Interactive site has posted the version 1.0 Voodoo3 drivers, which should be the ones that shipped with all retail boards, so they're not really new to anyone except perhaps a few owners of review boards.

As promised, the official Quake 3 Arena site has word of the release of the Linux version of Quake III Arena as well as new releases of the Mac version and the Win32 server, both available as full versions as well as updates for previous releases. Here's a local copy of the Linux Q3ATest in rpm format (20.9 MB), as well as the Linux Q3ATest as a simple tar.gz archive (20.9 MB), a local copy of the Win32 server (20.5 MB), the Win32 Server update (456 KB), the MacQ3ATest full release (21.4 MB), and the MacQ3ATest Updater (603 KB) along with lists of mirrors. Here's word from Zoid on the system requirements for Linux Q3ATest:

• Linux kernel 2.0 or later (2.2 kernels will work).
• Voodoo, Voodoo2 (SLI works "great") accelerator (not Voodoo3)
• 64 MB RAM
• a Linux supported sound card
• XFree86 3.2 or later.

Graeme Devine sent along this update on Q3Test since id Software's .plan server is down:

We're about to update (tonight) the executables to 1.03 of q3test, there is a seperate download for win32 and mac that just contains the updates, and the main files have been updated as well. Win32 is still only available as a dedicated server.

We're also releasing the Linux version of q3test, this will available as a RPM and as .tar.gz.

If you have a G3 system, I highly recommend the new firmware update from Apple, that gave us a noticeable (to humans) framerate improvement.

Here's the update list:

Mac specific
------------
improved networking stability
improved device scanning
improved speed
improved memory checking
improved sound latency

Generic
-------
global motd/update server
added drop shadow to field characters and fixed scrolling
fixed edge-of-bounce-pad misprediction error (server side)
removed broken weapon-stay dmflag
made menu gfx never picmip
cheat protect r_lightmap
cheat protect r_nocurves
clear sound buffer before any file IO
continuous scoreboard / ping update when tab is down
put version number on menu background
dim out behind floating menus
fixed server crashing string bug
adjusted scoreboard for 8 players
show hostname on connection screen
fixed null model warning on startup
more space for hostname on local servers screen
sv_privateClients, sv_privatePassword
"server is full" message on connect screen
archive handicap in config file

Whole bunch of 3D Realms related news for you this afternoon: first off, Keith Schuler updated his .plan with a glowing report from his playtesting of the N64 Duke Game, Zero Hour (including a report that the title has more speech than any prior Duke game). AVault is reporting that Remedy Entertainment has unveiled their new logo (you may recall that LucasArts had threatened legal action over its similarity to theirs). Mike Wilson updated his .plan with the final word on the whole Gene Simmons/Max Payne confusion:

Gene Simmons has no contractual rights to Max Payne for film. I let CGW know before they [ran] this story (when I first heard that he said that to a CGW reporter in Finland). Maybe it was too late to change it, or maybe CGW just thought it was too funny to take out, true or not. The fact is that Gene has a great interest in the game and had the whole Remedy crew out as VIP's at their concert in Finland. Since he also has some film company relation- ships (he's gotten 2 major films greenlit in 6 months), he has been acting as a sort of agent on our behalf only to his select relationships. Who knows what will come of it... there are quite a few people interested in Max Payne and Nocturne in Hollywood.

Lastly, George Broussard updated his .plan responding to this afternoon's rumors about Duke Forever and Prey. Here's a quote:

FACT: Duke Nukem Forever will NOT be shown at E3 in any capacity, by OUR choice. We have decided to stay focused and work through E3, and not let the distractions of a trade show dictate "when it's done". GT fully supports our decision and should be applauded for it. Duke Nukem: Zero Hour (N64) will be the Duke Nukem focus and man, let me tell you what, it rocks! We've been testing and tweaking it for 2 months and I see a million seller there.

FACT: GT has not "dropped, cancelled, pulled support, or poo-poo'ed" any part of Prey. They have always been supportive of our products.

ReSaurus updated their news page with the design sheet for their Quake 3: Arena toy, The Klesk. Subscribers to their newsletter have already seen this, and a new newsletter went out today with details on their next Quake 2 figure, The Medic. If you're not a subscriber, you can join at this page to get the details.

Phoebus sends word that Jake Simpson, Raven Software code junkie made a post to the Heretic II.com forums with some dirt on the next version of the enhancement pack:

Ok, tomorrow should see the new version of the EP up on both our and Activision's servers. This is the one with all the bug fixes in it. An updated toolkit should be around too, in fact two versions - since we are replacing the EP totally, then there will be a newer version of the toolkit with all the new code in it. Also, on the Raven site, there will be a smaller code only toolkit, with just those files in it that changed from version 1.04 to 1.05, for all the modders out there.

We apologise for taking so long to get it to you, we were actually QA'ing another version of H2 at the same time that is going out to Nvidia, to be released as an OEM deal with the TNT2. If there were going to be an OEM deal, we wanted to be sure it was the latest code, that way if anyone sets up a server, it will be with the latest and greatest code.

One last thing - 1.04 and 1.05 should be compatible multiplay wise, but you will most likely loose your save games. Sorry.

GameSpot's Quake III Arena week continues, as they've posted a Quake III Arena Screenshot Gallery, most of which seem familiar, but that first one (#8) looks new. Thanks Beyond 3D.

Just when you thought Joost was going to have to update his .plan about her lack of updates, there's an update on BitchX' page announcing that the Prey project is dead. As she reports: "No, I'm not dead... yet.... but Prey is... at least as far as GT is concerned. Sources say GT has pulled support from the product and 3DR has no one working on the project at this time." There's also a rumor on the rumor-monger's site that Duke Nukem Forever will make an appearance at this year's E3, in spite of all the reports to the contrary. Thanks Valeyard.

A new article on ION Storm in the Dallas Observer Online gives the lowdown on the latest behind the scenes rumblings at ION and Eidos based on court papers recently filed. Here's a quote:

But behind the scenes, in courthouses and boardrooms across the city, another sort of gaming continues. Last month, ION filed amended lawsuit pleadings suggesting that Eidos may be close to pulling the plug. ION's suit alleges that last November's walkout of the Daikatana development team "jeopardized [ION's] relationship with Eidos and caused Eidos to restructure its business venture with [ION]."

According to people in a position to know, Eidos may acquire 51 percent of ION, making ION more or less a part of Eidos. But the same sources say that ION's remaining shareholders — John Romero, Todd Hall, Jerry O'Flaherty, Todd Porter, and Warren Spector — will not get rich from the deal, which apparently involves no cash. Instead, Eidos will forgive a portion of its advances to the developers in exchange for its chunk of ION — a move that will enable Eidos to keep closer tabs on ION's operations.

• KryoTech and AMD Demonstrate Gigahertz Computer is the announcement of the unveiling of the KryoTech Super-G, based on a Thermally-Accelerated AMD-K7 processor. Word is these super-cooled, super-fast bad boys will be available some time this year. Thanks 3DNow.net.
• S3's Savage4 Technology Supported by Compaq for Optimal Graphics Performance, is the announcement of an S3 OEM win.
• IBM Aptiva Boasts First PC At Retail With High-speed AMD-K6-2-475 MHz Chip. Thanks Sharky.
• RIVAStation has posted some new TNT2 results.
• There's a new version of PowerStrip on 3DFiles, the latest version of this monitor/video card control utility.

The SciTech Software Download Files page has the new version of the SciTech MGL toolkit for creating games and other interactive graphics applications. This Multi-platform Graphics Library has been used in the development of titles like WinQuake, Hexen II and many others, and is available for Windows, MS-DOS, Linux, OS/2 and QNX. Thanks 3DFiles.

There's a new version of the MesaQuake drivers out (3.1b9), those cool drivers that allow you to play Q3Test using a Voodoo card on a Mac. This version fixes a problem where Q3Test would crash when you entered the portal room in Q3Test Map 1 (thanks Greg Cloon).

NovaLogic has announced Delta Force 2, the sequel to their squad based FPS title. The follow-up uses a next-generation version of their Voxel-powered engine, and adds Voice-Over-Net technology allowing people to talk to each other while playing online. In related news, GA-Source has posted the first screenshot from the game.

Computer Games Online previews Werewolf: The Apocalypse ("stay off the moors" ) looking at this forthcoming horror game calling it "More madness from the sick folks at DreamForge." Here's a part talking about some programming efforts that have taken the game's Unreal-engine in a new direction:

Even though they are using the Unreal engine to create this monster of a game, we'll find that it's not totally Unreal. They have tweaked the engine to perform in what they hope will be one of the more unique interpretations we've seen. The engine was in development when they got their claws on it, and still is (and ever shall be, it seems), and after digging deeply into the poorly-documented tool, they were able to add a caboose of their own.

Probably the most significant addition is the morphing capability of not only the main character but of certain NPCs as well. In the Werewolf universe, there are three states of being that are available to those with wolf genes. The first is the simple human state into which some have been born, and from which the lucky ones will begin to evolve during adolescence. As described above, the second state is that of Crinos—the wolfman—a huge, bipedal monstrosity with large sharp claws. Crinos have the ability to use a Klaive (ceremonial werewolf swords) and the ability to cast magical Gifts (like spells) and regenerate damage. Finally, there is Lupus, the wolf, who has Alpo-breath and likes to do it doggy-style. The Lupus form is small and fast, with tracking capabilities, and has the ability to squeeze into smaller, tighter spaces than its counterparts.

More horror: GameSpot's Nocturne Preview is up with an extensive look ahead at this upcoming spooky-looking action/adventure from Terminal Reality, offering a gallery of no less than six hundred million screenshots (give or take).

Sharky Extreme's First Glimpse at Decay looks at this upcoming action game from Insomnia Software that looks so impressive from the screenshots (some of which are included in the preview).

Here is a log of yesterday's chat with the FreeSpace 2 team (temporary URL, I'm told it will be moving here sometime today).

Get a load of this. More than a byte of bits:

• There's word on AnandTech on how the latest TNT2 drivers can help boost performance on TNT(1) cards. Thanks Latinum.
• AMD's 3DNow! Optimized Products page has been updated with the latest on games that support AMD's 3D extensions. Thanks AMD Zone.
• GA-Source's Mini-Interview Parth Shukla talks to Guillemot about their future plans manufacturing graphics accelerators and game controllers.
• Computer Games Online previews the IntelliMouse Explorer, looking at the recently-announced upcoming MS mouse (with no balls).
• New Matrox Graphics Marvel G200-TV Windows NT drivers. Thanks Sharky.
• 3DsoundSurge's EMU-Creative Technology Center Visit talks about their visit, as well as describing some of the key new features that will be offered to SBLive! owners through the upcoming Liveware 2.0 release.
• Ace's Hardware has posted "The Secrets of High Performance CPUs Part 4, Getting the Most Out of Each Clock Cycle."
• The Sanctum reviews the Leadtek WinFast S320 II looking at the TNT2-based accelerator.
• CPU Review reviews the Leadtek WinFast 5300, a socket 7 motherboard.
• Thresh's FiringSquad reviews the SuperMicro TMR-006 (x2) the socket-370 to slot-1 Celeron converter.
• FPS3D.COM's 3DfxCool CelRex Review looks at this massive CPU cooling fan.

The Adrenaline Vault News has posted nine new Anachronox screenshots. Also on The AVault is a preview of Saboteur offering six shots of this upcoming Ninja game from Eidos. There are three new Heavy Gear II shots on Voodoo Extreme. There are also nine new Babylon 5 Space Combat Simulation Screenshots on GA-Source, and similarly, the Homeworld site has more new shots online (thanks Killjoy). Finally, here's a new Diablo II screenie.

SailorScout's GC interviews Suislide talking about the Action Quake mod, discussing this multiplayer Quake II mod, the possibility of a single-player version, and the upcoming Half-Life version.

• The Lithium II Mod for Quake II page has new version 1.24 releases of this Quake II mod ported to Linux AXP, Solaris Sparc, and Solaris x86.
• Version 1.2 of X-Maps for LMCTF adds a ninth map to this popular pak for Lokis Minions Capture the Flag for Quake II.
• The Chapter Honour demo is out offering the first chance to play this mod called the Warhammer 40,000 TC for Quake (WinQuake or GLQuake are recommended). Looks like they're exploring the possibility of a commercial release on this, but it seems that it's not determined yet whether that will happen.

More bullets!

• GBPaker is a Pak update utility that allows mod authors to make additions or updates to files within .pak format files, which could lead to easier updates for new versions by allowing "mini update pak files." Available for Linux, Windows console and DOS. "A native Windows 95/98 version is coming soon."
• Raven-Games has released the ACC Script Compiler for Hexen to go along with the recently released source code of this Doom-engine game.
• Developer's Corner: The Learning Forum is a group production looking to create a playable game and engine from scratch, and they're looking for help. It's open to current and future game developers.
• Shogo Paint is a freeware program to simplify the creation of "bullet art" for Shogo: Mobile Armor Division.
• Storm3D.Com has the new version 0.11 release of the Lightning3D freeware NURBS modeler.

• Clan Ladder.com announces their Summer Fun in the Sun '99 competition (neatly skirting summer entirely by taking place in May). There are teamplay and individual ladders covering Half-Life, Quake 2, Unreal, and Starsiege: TRIBES.
• Speaking of TRIBES, the Tribe Ring Tourney is getting organized, and will kick off May 10.
• The Adrenaline Vault Cybermercs Giveaway offers a chance to win this upcoming game they refer to as a sci-fi Diablo.

• The Adrenaline Vault reviews Wages of Sin.
• 3DGaming.Net's Requiem Avenging Angel Review.
• SystemLogic's Baseball 2000 review looks at this baseball game that uses the Messiah engine.

• Electronic Frontiers Australia Anti-Censorship Campaign 1999 looks to prevent what they describe as sweeping Internet censorship legislation in Australia...
• Word is that Bleem CDs are arriving for those who pre-ordered the PlayStation emulator, though word is the game engine is not on the CD, but will be posted for download on their website. There is an explanation there of why this is the procedure, along with the promised recounting of their latest round of legal battles. Thanks RepoMan...
• Samsung Electronics Launches "yepp", the World's Smallest MP3 Player. Thanks Dave...
• Feeling cheap? The Gratis Gamer run by friend of games ZDim, has loads of new content. All games related, all free..

I was actually supposed to be out most of the day yesterday, but my plans changed, and I was able to hang around and get into loony's hair as he captained the ship (and a great job he did). The loonster also got cultural and popped in a pop culture reference yesterday, recalling a line from the Watchmen. About the only good return Rorschach quote was from Hellspit who makes us wonder if he's wondering about us with his choice of "Possible Homosexual? Must remember to investigate further," though Dagger also gave the Latin subtitle (Quis custodiet ipsos custodes), which probably qualifies as plain old culture, as well as the pop kind.

Link of the Day: Elephant Puts Foot Down On Pirated Software. Thanks f00Dave.
Image of the Day: Release Linux Q3ATest or Tux gets it. Thanks Adam "YourNameHere" Smith.

Next-Generation Online is reporting that Pennsylvania Senator Jack Wagner (D) in addition to the legislation proposed earlier today making it illegal to sell "violent video games" to people under 18 in his home state (see story), also introduced to Congress a resolution to require submission of games to the ESRB for review and rating. According to the article, "such a requirement exists in no other entertainment industry." According to Wagner he's not advocating censorship:

"What I am proposing is not censorship," Wagner said. "Individuals and companies would still be free to create, sell and rent violent video games. They could not, however, offer such games to minors. I believe the restrictions I am proposing are reasonable, justifiable and in the best interests of Pennsylvania's children and children across America."

Starsiege TRIBES - Multimedia and Downloads page has the new version 1.4 for Starsiege TRIBES as a patch for versions 1.0, 1.3, and 1.3.12. Thanks Datumplane::Starsiege.

The Hive interviews Randy Pitchford talking to the Gearbox Software president about RBR and Gearbox' upcoming Half-Life mission pack, Opposing Force. There's also an interview there with Ward Six Entertainment's Jason McIntosh talking about their upcoming TC Dawn of Darkness. Finally, Two of Nine is the pretty darn clever title of an interview on earthQuake with feared Swedish Quakers Paralyzer and DOOMer from Clan 9.

No easy explanation for Columbine killings is a CNN article discussing the debate about the "effects of violent entertainment," quoting the maintainer of Doomworld (author of this editorial), among others (thanks Bartender). Captive of an Alien Reality is a Washington Post article about Quake II that describes a newbie's attempt to assess the game's impact by checking it out (thanks Xenon). Finally, thanks CiDcO for word that there are three new related articles on CNET Gamecenter: Violent Games in Spotlight, Senator Introduces Video Game Bill, and Sex in Games Revisited (complete with mature warning of its own).

Gamer's Central has previewed Appeal and Infogrames' upcoming third person voxel-based title, Outcast, complete with several new screenshots.

• Rendition has posted new reference drivers for V2x00 based boards.
• Computers R Us reviewed the ATI Rage Fury.
• Dimension 128 has reviewed the MSI MS-6163 motherboard.
• Sharky Extreme has updated their weekly CPU price guide, featuring some new information on the AMD K7 processor.

The official Descent: Freespace 2 website has been updated, with a ship gallery, 19 new screenshots, and word that there's an IRC chat tonight at 8:00 CST with members of the development team.

The friendly folks at Accolade sent us this new screenshot from Slave Zero to show you all. Enjoy!

Another follow-up on the story from earlier today about the possibility that Kiss' Gene Simmons was purchasing the film rights to Max Payne (story and first follow-up) comes from 3D Realms' Joe Siegler, who sent along the following follow-up shedding some shadow on the situation:

Q: Is it true that Gene Simmons of KISS has bought the movie rights to Max Payne?

A: No, he hasn't bought the movie rights, but he is acting as a sort of agent talking to some movie production companies about things that we aren't talking about yet. :)

• S3 Ramps Up Support is a GameSpot piece announcing that some 50 game developers have pledged their support for the company's S3 Texture Compression (S3TC) technology and will incorporate it into games released this year.
• Intel launches new graphics effort is a CNET News.com article detailing the Big I's return to the graphics accelerator market with the i752 chipset, and the upcoming i754.
• Viper 3D has posted a TNT2 reviews page with links to all the articles they've found on NVIDIA's new chipset.
• Speaking of which, AnandTech's review of the NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 is up.

QuakeCity Gaming Network interviews John Scott talking to the Raven Programmer about Soldier of Fortune. The article also includes a pair of new exclusive screenshots showing off action from this upcoming Quake II-engine game based on the mercenary magazine of the same name. The piece also mentions that more info about Raven's upcoming first-person shooter based on the Star Trek : Voyager franchise will be revealed at this year's E3.

Ritualistic has posted a short interview with Ritual programmer Mark Dochtermann about the recent revelation that Ritual's upcoming FAKK2 is to use the Quake III engine. The three question Q&A discusses the reasons behind the decision, what it's like working on the yet-to-be-completed code, and their plans to maintain Mac and Linux cross-platform compatibility.

GSUK's Quake III Arena week rolls right along with a Quake III Arena Preview, written by Mat 'The Lurker' Bettinson (who you may recall from the Carmack audio .mp3 release incident). The preview is written based on a couple of hands-on sessions with recent builds of the full game, one in combat with the game's bots, as well as a deathmatch with the id staff. Additionally, Sconfig's Quake 3 Test Screenshots page has been updated with another QuickTime movie showing off action from the Mac version of Q3ATest (this is a third video, in addition to the one reported earlier this morning).

GA-Source has posted 8 Heavy Gear 2 Screenshots with more exclusive looks at Activision's upcoming giant robot (gear) game.

I've received word from both 3D Realms (Scott Miller by way of Joe "Superman" Siegler) and their PR firm, that the info in the CGW story quoted earlier (story), is inaccurate: Gene Simmons has not purchased the rights to the Max Payne movie (that's cool, John Woo needs to do this one anyway).

I.AM Half-Life has an updated list of console commands for version 1.0.0.9, complete with all the Team Fortress Classic Commands, as well as a bunch of custom aliases for TFC. Oh, and server admins looking for a good laugh should try out sv_birthday 1.

Rorshach's Journal ("I leave it entirely in your hands") has a wireframe Quake 3 skin available for download for those of you who want to get started on those skins right this second.

Inside System Shock 2 is the name of a brief article on SS2 over at Next-Generation Online. The piece contains a good overview of what to expect from the game (complete with three screenshots), and is chock-full of quotes from Ken Levine, president of Irrational Games.

As promised earlier in the week, sconfig has posted another Quake 3 quicktime movie, this time showing off actual Internet gameplay. This one's only available in a high quality version, but at 674k it's hardly what I would call a hefty download.

• The Windows 98 tweak guide has been updated, with all kinds of info for speeding up Windows 98.
• Wish you could have a case as cool as those new G3s, but don't want to buy a Mac? Kevin sends word of these cases from A-Top that look surprisingly like the new Macs. Of course, they won't play Q3Test yet, I'm afraid.

According to the latest issue of Computer Gaming World, Gene Simmons (that guy from KISS) has bought the film rights to Remedy's upcoming action title Max Payne (thanks 3DPortal). There's nothing that says Gene is interested in playing Max, but after 90 viewings of Runaway, I gotta admit that he plays a mean badass.

Digital Dungeons, the article from this week's Time magazine has been posted online. The article questions the finger pointing that's coming towards violent video games, and is one of the more rational pieces you're likely to find.

• Version 1.1 of King of the Server is out, fixing a number of bugs.
• There's a second beta out of the server side mod Fishman's DM mod.
• Version 2.4 of the Abandon mod from Clan Incarnations of Immortality (Piers Anthony rules!) is out, adding Eraser bot support amongst other things.

• Sharky Extreme has posted an exclusive review of Expendable, the latest 3D title from Rage Software.
• pc.ign.com reviews Requiem: Wrath of the Fallen.
• Strategy Planet reviews Machines, the 3D strategy title from Acclaim.
• Games.net reviews Wages of Sin, the mission pack for Sin.

• Clan DDZ is giving away one of those Everglide mouse pads and a Quake keychain to the first person to top their current high score of 142 frags in 15 minutes that was set by Swine [DDZ] back in October.
• QuakeCity is giving away a copy of Quake: Quad Damage to one random person that fills out their poll.

• A new version of Crazy Marbles is out, adding Banshee and Voodoo 3 support to this horribly addictive Marble Madness clone (full support is only in the registered version). Thanks Billy "crazy balls" Wilson.
• There's a one-level demo available of Space Bunnies Must Die! over on 3DFiles, offering you the chance to play the game that annoyed everyone at last year's E3 with their incessant music.
• Redhat 6.0 is available for download, with the retail version arriving soon. On a similar note, I recently spotted Open Linux 2.2 in a store around the corner from the loonyBin. Both Redhat and Open Linux offer easy installations of the previously intimidating Linux OS. Of course, neither one will play Q3Test yet, but hey...that'll be here soon enough.

Yep, that was the winning title...it was actually sent by several people, although Andrew Ebbatson was the first. Other good suggestions, "Blue loon" and "loon with a view" (both from Andrew) and "Ravings of a Loon" from Opafaf-[CoD]-. THL suggested "Loonyfud" saying, "go for 'Loonyfud', it's ace!" Take that as you will. Kevin Dow had a good suggestion with "Lunatic Fringe" although the most entertaining entrant has got to be devilbunny's suggestion: "the loonytic is on the grass." Since I was listening to that album as I read that, I actually laughed out loud (and then I closed the blinds...you never know). Thanks for all the suggestions...it's amazing how creative people got. A quick reminder to everyone: as the Blue guy is still off on his much-deserved day off, send all news to news@bluesnews.com to ensure that I get it as well.

Link of the day: Scenic Drive Resort (thanks Paul Danis). Why? Go there...that's an actual loon you're listening to. Woo! I try not to do that often...it scares my neighbors.