Next-Generation Online's Half-Life Opposing Force Preview is up with a look ahead at Gearbox Software's upcoming Half-Life add-on. The short piece offers a brief outline of the game and seven screenshots.

Wolfmann's JavaScript custom TFC config makers over at GX Team Fortress: Classic have been updated, with changes to the Custom Config Maker and the Custom Communications Maker and the addition of a new Advanced Communications Maker, and a Server Config Maker.

Just when you thought it was never coming, Team Evolve has posted the demo for their Quake II add-on Zaero. If that wasn't enough for you, they've also got a DM map pack that contains a series of deathmatch maps and DM only weapons. The DM map pack is compatible with both the retail and demo versions of Zaero, so even if you've got it you should check this out.

Raven's Kenn Hoekstra updated his .plan with word that they are looking for a few code monkeys to round out their programming department, so if that description fits you, grab a banana and your compiler and head over for the the details.

Billy at VE sends word of a new version of Q3Tweak, a Q3Test front-end designed to make it easy to get the best performance and visual quality from Q3Test by accessing console commands not available from the menu using an easy-to-use interface.

According to a thread on the Infogrames Message Board, "Independence War Deluxe Edition has been approved for release and sent to replication! It should be on sale in the next two weeks or so..." Thanks riot.com.au.

Version 1.05 of GameStalker, a server browser for both Windows and Linux has been released. This version fixes a bug with the "copy to clipboard" feature in Windows, and adds the feature entirely for Linux.

NetGames, whose ngTCS system is running the tournaments at QuakeCon '99, have already kicked off their coverage page. While there's only a teaser image up so far, the plan is to have scores, ngStats, schedules, brackets, news updates and pictures every hour once the event gets underway (and it's all automated, so it'll actually be there). The real fun begins tomorrow at 6:00 CDT, when onsite pre-registration begins.

GamePen has posted a preview of Lionhead's upcoming god-game Black & White, after a recent visit to see the game demoed by its famed developer, Peter Molyneux.

You've got to love that title. The Apogee/3D Realms Site has word on Duke Nukem-Music to Score By, the upcoming (sort-of) soundtrack for the Duke series mentioned in Duke Nukem: Time to Kill. The update includes a songlist with the corresponding artists, and gives word on the inclusion that has generated the most inquiries: The Duke Nukem Theme as recorded by Megadeth (this was originally slated to be on Megadeth's upcoming album, Risk, but that has apparently changed).

Quite the load of Mac news today, the 3dfx Interactive Voodoo3 Macintosh OS 8.x Beta Drivers page has been updated with new Version: 1.0b1 (Beta 1) drivers for Macintosh OS 8.x. Thanks Alex Colomb. Word is these beta drivers "are primarily intended for use by programmers wishing to develop applications utilizing the Glide API on the Macintosh platform. 3dfx will not offer end-user support nor warrant any hardware used in association with these drivers."

Brian Davis sends word that Cowboy Carnage Radio will be broadcasting a live SHOUTcast show from QuakeCon this weekend, so look for it on the SHOUTcast site, or with MP3Spy. Users will have to have Winamp or another SHOUTcast compatible MP3 player in order to listen to the show. Also on the QuakeCon front, Raven Software's Jake Simpson updated his .plan with word that both Soldier of Fortune and Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force will be on display at the show (and also at GenCon for those planning on attending that convention).

Though there's no corresponding full moon tonight, ASC Games sends word that they're set to host their second online chat session to discuss Werewolf: The Apocalypse - The Heart Of Gaia, their upcoming action/RPG where you play a lunatic of the truest sort. The chat session is tonight from 8:00-9:00 PM EDT in the ASC Games Chat room. Tonight's guest speakers include the game's Executive Producer Travis Williams, Associate Producer Rich Rosado, and other members of the development team.

The GameRanger page has a new beta 3 of this Macintosh Internet server browsing utility described on the site as "a completely customized Macintosh-friendly environment for players to meet worthy opponents, organize and play games, discuss strategies, and exchange tricks and ideas." Thanks Zav. GameRanger currently supports 11 multiplayer games, including all three generations of MacQuake.

The Omni Group, responsible for the Mac OS X port of Quake III: Arena, have posted the port of the Q3Test 1.08 server and client. This download requires OS X and a Voodoo 2 based accelerator, and all bug reports should be sent to The Omni Group directly, not id Software, as they aren't responsible for this port.

This ASUS FTP directory has new version 1.91 beta AGP-V3800 drivers (direct link) for Windows 2000. Thanks AGN3D. Also, though I can't find it on ASUS' main Taiwanese site, 3DNow.net is reporting new 1007__05.ZIP (another direct link) BIOS for ASUS P5A motherboards on ASUS' German FTP site, so do with that as you will (just don't come crying to us).

ZDTV's Heavy Metal F.A.K.K. 2 Preview is up with descriptions as well as pictures and accounts of Ritual's upcoming Quake III-engine game loosely based on the upcoming Heavy Metal movie, as it is both a text preview, and a streaming video feature in RealPlayer format. Here's a bit from the text portion that has our pal Levelord describing his long-time connection with the material in this adult-oriented game:

Richard "Levelord" Grey, level designer on SiN and Duke Nukem 3D, reminisces: "We jut sat in our bedrooms and drew pictures. So that's where we're heading back to-- soft porn, just like the Heavy Metal magazine."

This Messiah Update on PC Arena offers three new VR scenes of gameplay from Shiny's upcoming third-person action game where you play Bob, the possessive (and damn near naked) cherub. The QuickTime VR format scenes all show off weapon effects, and each weighs in at under a megabyte.

For you RTS fans (and you know who you are), The Adrenaline Vault Downloads Patch page has a version 1.06b patch to update Warzone 2100. "This update also installs all previous updates, new weapons, new cyborgs, new maps and NEXUS techs for you to play with."

Here are some space sim images for you on this Wednesday afternoon...PCArena has posted 24 new screenshots from Homeworld, showing off the Taiidan ships doing what they do best (flying around and shooting at stuff is my guess). And if that's not enough for you, GameSpot UK has posted a slew of new shots from Independence War: Defiance, a special edition of I-War that's coming soon.

The official QuakeCon homepage has posted full details on the tournament at the event, including rules, game settings, maps, hardware, and more (thanks WhipBoy). The mandatory waiver (which all tournament participants must sign) has also been posted, and can be printed out now, or you can sign it at the show.

GASource has posted a small QuickTime VR scene showing off gameplay from Shiny's diaper-clad third-person action title Messiah, along with a brief update on the game's status. There's this other bit of info about the game's aspect ratio:

I think the other news that you might be interested in - is that we've changed Messiah due to consumer feedback. Now, the game can be played in full screen mode, and not just letterbox format as it had been prior. While I prefer the letterbox format for it's cinematic aspect ratio, we know that many gamers out there wanted a full screen mode. So, we gave them what they asked for. MDK was available only in letterbox format, and I think we only got a half-dozen complaints from people. But, for some reason, people have been a bit more vocal about Messiah being letterboxed... not really sure why, either...

GamePen interviews Rod Fung talking to the producer of Sierra's upcoming tactical police simulation, SWAT 3 Close Quarters Battle. The Q&A asks about how the game will differentiate itself from other tactical games of the moment (great line from the interviewer: "Please don't say, "We've got cops!'"), and gives a good feel for the style of the game, which is set in Los Angeles, 2005, a time "when LAPD SWAT has become a more proactive anti-terrorist unit."

Interplay Productions' Tales of the Sword Coast page has a patch for BioWare's Tales of the Sword Coast add-on for Baldur's Gate. The patch addresses a number of issues including a fix for a problem that caused the game to run short of global variables, a sound volume issue, and several gameplay fixes. Thanks Gone Gold.

S3 has announced their Savage4 Xtreme graphics cards today, which will run at 166 MHz, and cost a reasonable $99 - $129. Here's some more tech specs, ripped from the press release:

Combining advanced 166MHz memory and engine clock speeds with a faster OpenGL ICD, S3TC technology, 32MB memory support, digital flat panel support and unmatched DVD quality, S3's Savage4 Xtreme 166 delivers ultimate price/performance for the $99-129 retail graphics market. For OEM and system integrators, S3 also offers the Savage4 Xtreme 143. Featuring a 166MHz memory clock and a 143MHz engine clock, the Savage4 Xtreme 143 is an optimal solution for lower cost designs.

I.am/Kingpin has posted a complete list of the Kingpin console commands, including all console variables, and a special "tweaks" category to help you get the most out of the audio, video, and multiplayer experience.

Ryan "Ridah" Feltrin updated his .plan with word that he's running a test server for Kingpin to help get the next patch out. Here are the details:

I'm running a Kingpin server now on a DSL line in Los Angeles, which I am able to use to get more useful information than previously. This means the more it gets used, the more chances of it crashing or debugging a client that gets overflowed, etc. This also means the patch gets done much faster.

So please feel free to drop in and give it a good spanking.
209.55.77.181:31510

Saw on PlanetUnreal that there's a Mac Unreal Tournament update on Westlake Interactive's site saying that the Mac version of UT has entered (closed) beta testing. Any applicable fixes found during testing will also be rolled into the Mac Unreal client. Also on the Unreal Tourney front, Voodoo Extreme has word of an update to the GT Unreal Tournament Level of the Week (according to Billy it's newer than the date indicates).

The psychedelic-as-ever Quake III Arena Server Snooper page has a new updated version 0.1 of this program that can find Q3Test servers as they're launched on your LAN. The new release is an update to work with the new Q3Test 1.08, but they've slipped in a couple of new features along the way.

So soon?

• Thresh's FiringSquad's Visit to S3 gives their look at the Stealth III Xtreme as well as a hint of what's next.
• Thresh's FiringSquad's Battle of 600 MHz pits a Pentium III-600 against a 600 MHz Athlon.
• Beyond 3D interviews Bitboys Oy(!) about their newly-announced Glaze3D.
• 3D Alpha Hardware Station reviews WinSystem98 taking a look at this tweak utility.

sCary has posted a reply on The Shugashack from id's John Carmack confirming there is still an ability to mess with the Q3Test timescale and get a speed-up, though it sounds like it's only on a minor scale:

I looked into it some more, and there is still a problem, but it is a different one... The server clamps the speed, so timescale 4 isn't any different than timescale 2, but it looks like there is still about a 30% slack that can be pushed. I don't understand yet how this is happeneing, but I will look into it.

The game play is so messed up with timescale running now that I don't think it is an effective cheat, but I will still try and fix it.
John Carmack

There are a bunch of screenshots from Half-Life: Opposing Force on PC Gamer Online posted in yesterday's news. OpFor, as it's called, is Gearbox Software's upcoming official Half-Life add-on.

The Adrenaline Vault's preview of SWAT 3 Close Quarters Battle is up looking ahead at Sierra's upcoming game of tactical police operations. This bit describes the weapons in the game, and their emphasis on realism:

So, what kind of goodies will you get as a member of a Special Weapons and Tactics team? As usual, Sierra has utilized their close ties with the LAPD to access authentic SWAT information. Each officer can carry a primary weapon, such as a rifle, shotgun or submachine gun, and a backup sidearm. Some of the primary weapons, such as the M4A1 rifle, can be equipped with non-lethal rounds while others, like the Benalli Super 90 combat shotgun, can fire breaching rounds composed of powdered steel that destroys locks on impact. In addition to these weapons, each officer usually brings along an assortment of utilities including handcuffs, CS tactical gas grenades, C2 breaching charges, flashbangs, chemlights (glow sticks used to illuminate rooms and mark areas that have been cleared of threat) and a multipurpose tool called a "crunch." All of these resources expand the element leader's tactical options and will allow players to experiment with multiple strategies.

Part two of Computer Games Online's Nocturne preview is up with another short look ahead at Terminal Reality's upcoming "noir adventure" focusing on the way the game's designers have animated cloth.

Sujoy Roy's eponymous Sujoy.com is home to Sujoy's "Complete guide to Q3," which currently consists of parts one and two of three, making the "complete" thing a little incongruous, but we think we understand. The guide gives a look at downloading, installing, and tweaking the test for best performance, with the upcoming third part to be a one-stop guide for beginners.

Redwood has posted an MPG movie on Stomped from the German magazine Gamestar showing off gameplay from Nihilistic's upcoming Vampire: The Masquerade, the game where it doesn't suck to suck.

Raven Programmer John "Pagan" Scott (AKA don't call me Slaine or Scott Rice) updated his ,plan with his updated Soldier of Fortune work log, talking about digital sampling rate limits for NT compatibility and listing the latest round of bugs to which he's he's taken the swatter.

The A3D Download Drivers has new Vortex 2 Drivers for Windows 95/98 as three different archives, to suit individual needs. According to Vortex of Sound, who sent this news along, these fix pretty much all the outstanding issues with Vortex 2 cards.

ELSA has posted new version 4.11.01.0200-0022 ELSA ERAZOR III Windows 95 & 98 drivers for all different versions of ELSA ERAZOR III. The Win98 drivers include a beta version of ELSA VideoControl. Thanks Ernie.

More Bits including a very first look at S3's latest:

• AMD expanding Athlon chip family reports ZDNN. Thanks AbsolutePC.
• Sharky Extreme's S3 Savage 4 Pro Xtreme 'Hands-on' Preview.
• Computer Games Online looks at that Glaze3D announcement.
• 3D Alpha Hardware Station's RIVA TNT Overclock Guide is up.
• PC Paradox' Vortex2 vs. Soundblaster Live! In this corner...
• The Adrenaline Vault News reports VIA Technologies to Purchase Cyrix Assets.

Red Orb's Prince of Persia 3D page has been updated with word that: "The Demo will be released on August 23. The Full product will ship September 19. Please check out all the new screenshots and movies." Saw that on Voodoo Extreme.

Exxtreme3D.Com interviews Kevin Lambert from Monolith talking about the game he's co-designing, Sanity, a Diablo-style isometric-view action/RPG.

Word from DiabloII.Net is that the Diablo II Image Gallery has been updated with six new screenshots, three each of the Necromancer and the Barbarian, along with a new animated gif of each showing off an attack.

MacGamer's rebuttal to GameSpot responds to yesterday's Mac-bashing on GameSpot (story) talking with Bob LeVitus (a.k.a. "Dr. Mac") author of 29 computer books, about the viability of Mac gaming.

• AnadTech's Voodoo3 3500 Review.
• Gamers Depot reviews the Voodoo3 3500.
• 3D Spotlight reviews the Guillemot MaxiGamer Xentor 32.

• Pandemoic Studios has posted a coolio new Dark Reign II shot. Thanks Voodoo Extreme...
• Does Microsoft's next OS point to strategy shift? asks CNET News.com...
• Birdman's Lair has a working SpaceOrb config for Quake 1.07/1.08, pointing out it's a bit rough, as joystick support in Q3Test is so far not up to its predecessors...
• PrefabLand sends along word that the now are home to over 600 prefabs for Half-Life, TFC, Hexen 2, Quake, Quake II, Sin, and Unreal, sure to provide help to the map designer looking to save some time...
• Hey! Texas is having Sales Tax Holiday this weekend, so clothes-conscious attendees can LAN all they can then shop 'til they drop. Thanks Jeff at AMD Zone...

Puny server make Hulk mad! Hulk smash!! Just wanted to share some of the intelligent behind-the-scenes conversation that surrounded the server problems that plagued us yesterday. Many thanks to Chris at Pair, who hung in there through all the crashes, ultimately replacing the server's motherboard (switching to a 100-base T connection in the process). Hopefully this is all under control now. Again, apologies for the downtime.

I removed an extra bullet point I accidentally added to the what's new in Q3Test version 1.08 post yesterday (story), in case you were wondering why id chose to add a timescale cheat, the note now reads "prevents timescale cheating " as it should... one bullet can make such a difference, as many who have been shot can confirm (more tellingly, so many who have been shot cannot confirm anything).

I just re-read the sentence I typed above, and I think it's safe to say that my fears that composing Out of the Blue earlier in the day would cause it to be more coherent were unfounded.

Link of the Day: Uncle Booger's BumperDumper. Thanks Chris Sweitzer.
Bonus Link: The Half-Life: Scientist Torture Tutorial. A guide to killing NPCs in Half-Life. Sure it's sadistic, but if we don't link it, the 50-some scientists killed in the making of the guide will have died for nothing.

Next-Generation Online has posted a Q&A with Wes Eckhart, Nova Logic's producer on Delta Force 2. The questions are of a general nature, but Wes does talk about the competition a little, and there's some interesting talk about the gameplay as well. Here's an excerpt I got a kick out of, since it was something I certainly wanted in the first game:

"Another feature that's going into the game by popular demand is bullet penetration. Some Delta Force players wanted to be able to shoot enemies hiding in tents, for instance, so in DF2 bullets will go through certain structures where it makes sense. A layer of waterproofed canvas will no longer provide cover against the M4 carbine, much less a hail of slugs from the SAW."

Black & White Wire has posted the log from their chat with Lionhead's Jamie Durrant, talking about their really strange but still totally cool game Black & White. The chat touches on a number of B&W related topics, including a number of details about the multiplayer component of the game, which looks to be massive, to say the least.

Unrealism has posted a brief, hands-on preview of Hasbro Interactive's oddball Unreal engine title, Nerf Arena Blast, complete with three screenshots.

The Rogue Spear Retreat has posted an interview with Red Storm Entertainment's Greg Stelmack, talking about the measures being taken to prevent cheating in Rogue Spear, the sequel to Rainbow Six. Here's an excerpt:

"Game developers walk a fine line between letting people tweak the game and preventing cheating. The constants file caused a lot of cheating issues, so we've completely removed it for Rogue Spear. All those constants are now rolled into the executable. We've caught lots of other configuration files and made sure that the server sends them across so that everyone has the same values. I'm sure there are still some server side cheats (e.g. the server customizing one particular gun), but if you can't trust your server in a multiplayer game, you can't trust anyone. We can't eliminate those without preventing people from editing weapons or making other mods."

In their continuing coverage of games that aren't Quake, Quake2000.net has posted an interview with Jarrod Showers, animator on Raven Software's Soldier of Fortune. The interview covers Jarrod's background in the industry, GHOUL (Raven's animation system for SoF), and the status of the game, which he says is in an alpha state, and will ship in late fall (of course, these things are always subject to change).

GA-RPG has posted an interview with Christopher White of Big Rock Entertainment, the developers of N'Evaria: Keligem's Legacy, a role-playing game in development that utilizes Monolith's LithTech 2 engine.

Today is the day for completing strategy game production, on the heels of the announcements earlier today that C&C Tiberian Sun and StarFleet Command are gold, comes word on Gone Gold (where they live for this sort of news) that the US version of Braveheart, the turn-based strategy game where you fight for FREEDOM(!) has gone gold as well.

AVault is reporting (by way of a telephone interview) that John Romero has returned to designing single player maps. Up until now, Romero's role was simply as the game's designer, overseeing the production of the game, but not making any levels himself. Here's what John had to say:

“I am now involved in designing single-player maps,” Romero told us in a telephone interview this afternoon. “I get to the office around 10:00 a.m. and stay until 1:00 in the morning most days. Last night, I was here until 4:30 a.m.” Additionally, he is still involved with his supervisory role, something else that no doubt contributes to the long days during the current crunch mode.

GA-Source's Spec Ops 2 Green Berets interview is online talking with Zombie Designer John E. Williamson about gameplay in this upcoming game of squad-based tactical operations. The piece includes a new shot of the Green Berets in their desert camouflage.

The Wheel of Time™ page has been updated with the weekly Tuesday (formerly Monday) update about from Legend's upcoming Unreal-engine action title. The update talks of progress on the game, describes some recent web-based coverage of the game, and offers up no less than 20 new screenshots. Thanks Infiniti.

RSONE.COM has been updated with 15 new screenshots from Rogue Spear, Red Storm Entertainment's upcoming sequel to the Tom Clancy-inspired action & tactics title, Rainbow Six.

PC Arena's Messiah preview is up looking ahead at Shiny's upcoming third-person 3D action title, offering a bunch of screenshots.

PC Gamer Online's Prince of Persia 3D preview is up looking ahead at the third installment in the formerly side-scrolling adventures of the baggy-pantsed prince, now fleshed out into three dimensions.

You know 'em you love 'em you can't live without 'em, it's time for the the Diablo II screenshot of the week, this week intriguingly titled Act One - No. 126.

On the heels of the C&C news comes word on another RTS game (for those that like that sort of thing) going gold, as the Star Trek Starfleet Command page has word of the game going gold, saying: "Make sure to get your pre-order in so you can play the full version next week!!" Thanks Warren Schultz. While I'm here I'll mention a StarFleet Command update on PC Arena with three new shots of ships from the game.

The fine folks at Pair believe we had a hardware problem that caused the outages on the server earlier today, so the most recent interruption was for the installation of a new motherboard, so we'll see if this settles things down. Our apologies for the interruptions.

PlanetShogo has posted a fix for a server-side cheat in Monolith's Shogo: Mobile Armor Division. Rather than kick cheaters, the mod detects them and instantly kills them.

SpecForce has posted a few new screenshots from the upcoming Green Beret action and tactics game, Spec Ops II. A couple of the shots show of a little recon look at an enemy base.

Sorry, server has bounced up and down a few time this afternoon, there are currently folks busily throwing rocks at it to settle it down in the time-honored manner.

The Adrenaline Vault interviews Surreal Software's Alan Patmore talking about Surreal's upcoming dragon-riding third-person epic, Drakan: Order of the Flame, discussing the rapidly-approaching completion of work on the game.

PC Zone's Ultima Ascension Preview is up with their usual complete treatment of analysis, screenshots, and conversation, this time around offering a look back at the Ultima series, as well as some pearls straight from the bearded lips of Richard "Lord British" Garriott.

The Adrenaline Vault News has posted four new screenshots from Verant Interactive's upcoming persistent real-time strategy title Sovereign.

Dynamix' own Oz resident, Tinman, updated his .plan with more details on his new TRIBES mission type, the HeadHunters-inspired Flag Hunters. The update describes programming changes and a key-binding that can feed players more game-state information, as well as a couple of gameplay balancing tweaks he's added, including a change that makes it harder to hoard flags.

ZorWolf sends along a set of GameSpy3D Q3Test 1.08 Filter Tabs for users of the new Q3Test release and GameSpy3D, offering a separate tab for the new version, one to find free-for-all games, one for teamplay, and one to find servers running tourney mode. Also, George sends along a a PingTool Q3Test 1.08 Filter Tab for PingTool users to help zero in on servers running the latest version. As in the past, these already miniscule files are zipped to avoid upsetting your browser's delicate digestive tract, rather than for size considerations.

Saw on Doomworld that the wHeretic homepage has a new version 0.4a build 2 of this Win32 port of Raven's Doom-engine game, Heretic. The update fixes a problem with 3D sound that causes sounds to fade when using hardware sound acceleration.

A Venom Demo Update on GA-Source gives a response from the developers of the just-released playable compatibility test demo of Venom (story), an upcoming first-person shooter that uses the Vital Engine LZ. Word from the update is to set "always run" to on in the demo, to toggle the CAPS lock. They also offer commands to make the player four times stronger, and another that makes all the monsters speak Russian.

Voodoo Extreme has posted a Q&A with Irrational Games' Ken Levine, talking about System Shock 2, which recently went gold and should be showing up in stores Real Soon Now.

With my own copy of the new Q3Test 1.08 releases (story) in hand, I can pass along the notes from the what's new file. First, the file stresses "You MUST delete all previous versions of Q3TEST for the game to run properly" (with no less than six exclamation points). Here's the full scoop:

You MUST delete all previous versions of Q3TEST for the game to run properly!!!!!!

• fixed marks fading properly in fog volumes
• show weapon in fov >90, adjusting position down as needed
• update scoreboard info while at intermission
• print "waiting to play" for tourney spectators
• fixed tied rank with 0 score and spectators
• return to roaming spectator when a followed client quits or spectates
• release windows cursor when running windowed and the console is down
• log all client transitions, item pickups, and kills
• changed joystick axis to act just like arrow keys so they can be bound in the controls menu for strafing. Yes, this does remove slow walking from joystick movement, but it makes everything a lot cleaner.
• fix up PantherXL trackball support
• tournament queuing of spectators to enter the game
• track wins and losses as long as you stay on a tourney server
• spectators are now in fly mode instead of noclip, and use teleporters
• pass serverTime instead of msec for command timing, prevents timescale cheating
• fixed rcon

id Software Designer Graeme Devine updated his .plan with a mention of the new Q3Test releases (below), and word on the included consolation prize: a Sarge model you can access through the console (a console-ation prize, perhaps?):

Q3Test 1.08!!! Go bring down your favorite Internet site.

Because it's once again a full download, we've included a new model (Sarge) with this version of the test as a consolation prize. You need to select him from the console using the "model sarge" command.

As promised below, here are local copies of the new Q3Test 1.08 release. Here's the Win32 version, along with a list of mirrors, and the Mac version, again, with additional mirrors as they come in. Each file is a bit over 33 MB.

Win32 & Mac Q3Test version 1.08 are out on ftp.idsoftware.com. I'll get local copies, a list of mirrors, as well as what's new posted ASAP.

IPlayGames Interviews Greg Zeschuk talking with the president and joint CEO of BioWare in another Q&A about progress on MDK2, their upcoming sequel to the third-person game of the same name, minus the "2." MDK, of course, stands for Mildly Distinguished Kellogg.

Apache sends word of a couple of messageboard posts he's summarized on Unreal Universe that have Epic's Jack "Mek" Porter and Pancho Eekels talking about Unreal Tournament network performance.

After some recent false alarms in a couple of places, the Westwood Studios page has been updated with word that Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun is gold, and the latest edition of their RTS franchise should be in stores soon. Thanks Tom Evans.

You thought that said screenshots for a second, didn't you? ActionXtreme.com interview Matt Powers, the guy with the perfect Astronaut's name (and also the producer on Slave Zero), about Accolade's upcoming giant robot combat game.

The sixth installment in RadPipe's The Road To QuakeCon '99 is up on the QuakeCon '99 Site talks with id Software's Anna Kang (that is in the parts RadPipe didn't just make up) about QuakeCon, giving away here Doom chess set, and stuff like that.

AGN3D has posted a slimmed-down G2 RealPlayer version of the Prince of Persia 3D movie released yesterday (story) that now weighs in at a mere 2.4 MB.

Fahrenheit not so hot anymore, and new Wicked3D drivers among this morning's offerings:

• SGI cutting back key projects reports job cuts at SGI in advanced graphics division engineers, and a backing away from the once much-hyped Fahrenheit technology. Thanks Jawed Karim.
• The Wicked3D Drivers page has new a new uber-driver setup for Wicked3D Voodoo2, Wicked3D Vengeance and Wicked3D eyeSCREAM setups. Thanks Voodoo Extreme.
• Sharky Extreme's Memory Guide Part 5 is up, discussing System Timings.
• The Shrine 3d Website has new screenshots of Shrine 3d, a project to "create an engine that strays from conventional methods of rasterization and organization." Word from Joe "Platinum" Bertolami, the author, is that "this project primarily for educational purposes, and I do not expect it to reach any commercial level for at least 6 months."
• Abtons Shed has a new TweakAll 1.2 Public Beta. Thanks GameDev.net.

Amid all the optimistic reports out of the recent MacWorld Expo comes a naysayer report from GameSpot's Macworld Exposé which declares: "Problems with engineering, retail distribution and divisiveness within Apple continue to keep the company at the back of the pack for gaming. And despite words to the contrary, it seems to be getting worse."

The results of Playground 99 have been posted along with photos of the event, which attracted more than 4000 attendees (word is that Tyler, the winner of the Descent 3 competition, is heading to Vegas for the $50,000 Descent 3 Championships). The folks at Teamplay.Net point out that they hosted the entire final round of the Playground '99 TRIBES tournament, making use of their "Tournament Management Engine" (TME) to generate the tournament bracket for the 9 teams participating in the final event, and that the entire Playground '99 final TRIBES final event, all the way down to the championship match, was broadcast live with full statistics tracking.

The results of last week's boffo Test Your Game Knowledge are online, and we've reloaded the chambers in our three-round trivia revolver with three id Software inspired questions in the special QuakeCon edition of the Test Your Game Knowledge game. The new schedule for the trivia and the answers is Tuesday morning, but next week's results will go up on Wednesday in the aftermath of QuakeCon.

• CTNews reviews the Unreal Mission Pack 1, Return to Na Pali.
• 3D Alpha Hardware Station reviews DoomGL 0.8.
• A Better Mouse Surface is a BX boards review of the everglide, which does the same thing I try to do with all mouse pads: fit them onto my oddball mouse arena.

• SiN Post has posted a five map pack of Sin deathmatch maps that have been seeing a lot of action lately...
• A later update by Dynamix' Tinman to his .plan makes it clear the TRIBES mission he was working on mentioned earlier (story) called Flag Hunters is based on HeadHunters for Quake...
• UnrealEngine.com's Community Q&A: Zen Tao Interactive talks with the developers of the unusual Unreal-engine project, Extreme Wing Chun VR, "the world's first interactive "encyclopedia style" application designed to teach the fundamentals of Wing Chun Kung Fu..."
• Greedo does Half-Life in an odd development side-note in Gearbox' Randy Pitchford's .plan...

As I mentioned when loony's trouble getting properly connected to the Internet, when his connection was straightened out (as it is now), I would try to get to updating the site for the first time of each day closer to midnight, to allow for more continual posting of news through the night. Now that loony's ISDN is in, I'm trying to keep to the new schedule, we'll see how well I keep it (my apologies if out of the Blue seems more (or less even!) coherent, now that it's not being written in the middle of the night).

To follow-up on something previously reported in this space: movies.IGN.com reports the Matrix to be sold on VHS after all, starting November 26 (thanks Ant). Woah!

Link of the Day: Furniture Porn!! Thanks rufees. Nice legs on that chair, huh? Don't forget to wear your slip-cover for protection!
eBay Item of the Day: Rare Louisiana Voodoo Soil. Thanks Jonathan Cole. Work your mojo! "Its dark dark brown, and has a slight 'earthy' smell to it."