Legend's Glen Dahlgren has posted this week's update to the official Wheel of Time page (thanks Shawn). This lengthy installment gives the latest status on several different areas of the game, from the cut scenes (which are now complete), to the AI and level design.

PC.IGN has posted a preview of Monolith's Lith Tech 2 engine title, No One Lives Forever - or at least the game that's going by that name currently anyway (it's a working title only). The game has changed since E3 apparently, as Craig Hubbard, lead level designer explained to them:

"Basically, we wanted to make a 60s spy game -- there are so many great 60s spy shows and movies. We didn’t want to make a 'Bond' style game, so when people were obviously drawing that comparison, we decided to rework things a bit. We wanted to get away from the Bond comparisons that people were making, so we’ve changed the main character and the back-story a fair amount."

In addition to news of the new messageboard mentioned in the following story, as promised, some Quake III Arena Tour Photos have been posted on the id Software Quake 3 Arena site. Thanks Ryan.

The id Software Quake 3 Arena site has been updated with the news Anna hinted about yesterday, the "official" messageboard for the Quake III Arena Bus Tour is online, hosted right here at the house of blueness. This provides a place to find out more about the tour as it hits stops before your town, or catch up with the festivities if you are not lucky enough to be along the scheduled route. It also provides us an opportunity to get a good test going of the first messageboard here, furn, our ace programmer, has been working overtime. The boards can be read by anyone, but will require a simple registration to set up a login to post (to provide control for abusive postings). Future planned nuances include a slick moderation system and reply-to-this-story posting, but this gives us a start to see what issues the CGI use raises, and more, so feel free to head over and check it out, or make a post.

I saw on Captured.Com that their hosted site, The Flagship Engineering Room, has posted their completed list of cvars (client variables) for Q3Test after receiving some feedback from Zoid. Their list is now current through Q3Test version 1.05, while they continue to Engineer away at a list of variables current through version 1.08.

At long last I've posted the results from our last Test Your Game Knowledge Contest. Swing by and see how you did, and look for our next contest to run later in the week (and judging by the number of right answers last time, I can pretty much guarantee it'll be much harder).

Rogue's Rich Fleider updated his .plan with word that Rogue is hiring still more people for their new game Alice:

Rogue Entertainment is lookin' for more scurvy dogs! We are currently accepting applications for a 2d texture/skins artist who has what it takes to immediately start full time on our new "Alice" project. All interested artists must be proficient with 2d paint programs like Photoshop and/or Paint Shop Pro. Every applicant's portfolio should really showcase the effects and details that can be achieved with a 24 bit palette. Storyboard and conceptual talents are also needed. Industry experience would weigh heavily in your favor but it is not a requirement. Talented and qualified artists should be prepared to submit a resume and a portfolio using a variety of media, including a demo reel of their animation.

For additional information, check out the "news" page of our new website at:

http://www.rogue-ent.com

As a reminder, we are still accepting resumes and demo reels for the 3d artist position. Come join the Rogue crew as we set sail!

AVault has posted the next installment of their Slave Zero Development Diary. This week's installment takes the form of a Q&A with Ken Capelli, lead artist on the game.

The announcement isn't up on the CPL site yet, but we just received the early word on the FRAG III, as in the past, planned for Halloween in Dallas:

The CPL has announced that FRAG III will take place at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dallas, Texas on Friday, October 29 through Sunday, October 31, 1999. To make early hotel reservations contact the Hyatt Regency at (800) 233-1234 and mention "CPL FRAG III" to receive the discounted group rate.

The Adrenaline Vault Downloads now has the just released 1.1 patch for the FreeSpace2 demo (story) as a separate download. Here's word from Volition on what's new (thanks Voodoo Extreme):

• Desktop resolution vs. gameplay resolution. Previous versions of the FS2 demo had a problem when people would have a desktop resolution lower than the resolution they were playing with. When a region outside the valid desktop area was clicked while ingame, the game would minimize. This version should eliminate this problem.
• Dedicated server stops sending updates during netplay. There was a bug (most often seen during dogfight missions) where clients would see all ships in the game stop moving and float in whatever direction they were heading.
• Similar to the dedicated server problem, clients would often not realize when they had timed-out or been disconnected from the server. This should be properly detected now.
• Dedicated server ghost process. There was a problem where the dedicated server would not properly shut itself down when the "shutdown" button was pressed. It would stay wedged in the process table.

Planet Half-Life has posted word of FilePlanet's mirrors of the newly released version of the Half-Life dedicated server which corresponds to the new client they plan on releasing at 10:00 AM PDT tomorrow. The file is available as a full Windows or Linux installer, ort a patch to update prior Windows or Linux installations. Server operators should remember not upgrade before the client is released, or no one will be able to play on your server.

Talkspot sends word of a live chat of their own, on tomorrow's edition of their the Game Dive. The session will offer a conversation with TRIBES/TRIBES2 Lead Programmer Mark Frohnmayer as well as recently departed Designer Scott Youngblood, both talking live about TRIBES, TRIBES2, TribesCon'99 and, Scott's departure from Dynamix. The show requires RealPlayer (or equivalent), and kicks off tomorrow evening at 7:00 PM PDT.

The Adrenaline Vault sends word that they're hosting an online chat session with Epic Games to discuss the state of development of their upcoming shooter, Unreal Tournament. They list the chat for Thursday, Aug. 19 at 7:30 PM EDT, and promise more details soon.

The Quake III Nation Player Character Guide has managed to round up a the known info on all the players in the game. While that doesn't consist of much for most of them, which simply say things like: "No Information available. Uses the 'xxxx' model," however the placeholders for the missing info offer the name, and in many cases the names of the model and skin used for each character, listing over 60(!) planned characters to be included with the game.

The Descent Chronicles has word that the version 1.10 multiplayer patch for the FreeSpace 2 demo promised earlier (story) is now available. Currently the only way of getting the patch is to click the "Update" button on the Freespace launcher until Volition puts up mirrors.

The Adrenaline Vault News has posted an update on the state of Diablo II, saying the game is still "expected to ship before the end of the year and that the developers are currently focusing on game balance." The update also reports that Blizzard has finalized details for the first series of three action figures (Diablo, the Barbarian and the Greater Mummy), to be released in the US concurrently with the game for about $10.

There's also an Experience Development Report on Voodoo Extreme talking about progress on this upcoming shooter from WXP that is still some time off from being on store shelves.

gBi0Tch's Home Page has a new versions 0.6 beta of the gBi0Tch (lovely name) log analyzer for Half-Life counter-strike servers. The new release fixes a small error in HTML reporting in version 0.5, and is available as a full installer as well as an update patch.

Thresh's FiringSquad has posted a preview of Terminal Reality's third person scare-fest Nocturne, featuring several new screenshots (including one that shows off a previously unseen location, and one that shows off a previously unseen monster).

Bigkid.com.au's Q3Test2 Guide gives Q3Test strategies concentrating on the second map, AKA Q3Test2, AKA The Longest Yard, AKA the one with all the jump pads. The piece goes into weapons, routes, and other strategies, and is heavily illustrated with helpful screenshots. Just try not to be too upset if Sergeant Action is a bit hard on you... it could save your life some day.

There is a BeOS port of the Eraser Bot based on the final version 1.10 code for Ridah's Quake II artificial intelligence playmate. The Beraser, as it were, requires BeOS R4.5 and is x86 only. The author is also currently working on an IRIX port of version 1.10 (a port of version 1.01 is available), more info on that can be found here. Thanks Bot Epidemic.

Thanks Voodoo Extreme for word that Planet Drakan has posted another new screenshot from Drakan: Order of the Flame, due in stores this Friday.

Saw on Drakan.Net that this Drakan Order of the Flame guide offers hints directly from Prima's official strategy guide on how to succeed at Psygnosis and Surreal's upcoming third-person adventure game (I guess they hold off some choice tidbits to inspire you to buy the book), though you might want to give the game a try before delving into spoilers. More rooted in the present, Billy posted word on VE about this DarkStone FAQ, updated to version 2.1 to help with this new Diablo-esque game.

GameLinks' Rogue Spear Preview is up with a look ahead at this tactical shooter that's a follow-up to Red Storm Entertainment's Rainbow Six. The preview gives a rundown on what's expected from the game, and is illustrated with 16 screenshots.

Beta Performance Level Graphics Card Driver page (I'm guessing that's a literal translation of something that made more sense originally) has a new V3100 Beta Enhanced Driver for Win9x for this Savage3D-based accelerator. Thanks Voodoo Extreme.

Inside Mac Games' Beta Test Rainbow Six page is looking to sign up beta testers for the imminent tests of the Macintosh version of Red Storm Entertainment's Tom Clancy game. There's a form to fill out (once) by August 23 at 5:00 PM Central Time to be entered in a drawing for a spot on the test team. Word is Rainbow Six for the Mac will be published by MacSoft in the Fall.

PoliSh sends several updates about the upcoming Ground ZERO LAN event in New York City, September 9-12, 1999. Here's the lowdown:

Several updates have been made to the Ground ZERO website. The SCHEDULE section has been updated with a detailed event schedule, including times of all tournament matches. Also, tournament rules have been added, under our RULES section. Our LOCATION section is updated as well, with a printable map and a list of nearby hotels and restaurants. In addition, we now have a Public Message Board (FORUM), dedicated to publicly answering any Ground ZERO related questions.

Ubi Soft sent around a press release yesterday announcing that Shadow Company, the upcoming squad-based 3D tactical action game, was on schedule for its November 1 ship date. Since, in spite of the announcement, the game is not yet done, the intrepid lads at The Adrenaline Vault News contacted Sinister Games "to determine what the team has done with extra development time." They have taken the opportunity to provide a rundown on the game's features, and show off seven new screenshots they scored along the way.

Tim Sweeney made an update to the Unreal Technology page clarifying that any pirate punk claiming to have a "final" version of UT is, well... a lying pirate punk.

Part one of Computer Games Online's Dungeon Keeper 2 Guide is up, in case you are no good at being bad.

The Descent Chronicles has posted word there's a post on the Volition Bulletin Board describing "plans to release a patch sometime soon to address several multiplayer problems, in addition to some general things (such as a desktop v. game resolution problem)." The patch is expected soon, "since yesterday was mentioned as a 'possible' date for the patch." They also mention a server on PXO called Volition Test, and word is "If you've been experiencing problems with the FS2 demo, please try playing on this server and report any useful input..."

3D-Unlimited's BattleZone 2 shots give some more looks ahead at the action from the upcoming sequel to this first-person action/RTS hybrid, and this page of concept art gives some looks at some sketches from pre-production with shots that show how those scenes turned out in the game.

BC3020AD screenshots page has a whole bunch of new screenshots showing off floorplans from ships in the game, as well as 10 in-game shots showing off more internal architecture at 1280x1024 resolution.

• Guillemot's New Sound Card is a GameSpot looks ahead at the Maxi Sound Fortissimo, a new soundcard to be announced later this week.
• Ace's Hardware's Video and the Athlon In Search of a Match is their second K7 review detailing the Athlon's performance with several of the latest 3D video accelerators.
• FPS3D.COM has a post up about UDMA66 compatibility in Abit BP6 motherboards.
• Microsoft Windows Update page has a critical "Windows 98 Year 2000 Update 2" so you don't have to party like it's 1899 when that nasty millenium rolls around.

• Future Gamer reviews Unreal Tournament, in a legit review (GreenMarine sends word that some European sites have "review copies" of the yet-unfinished game).
• Next-Generation Online reviews System Shock 2.
• RIVA 3D reviews the Voodoo 3 3500TV.
• GameSpot reviews the Intel 600MHz Pentium III.
• Gamecenter reviews the Turtle Beach Montego II Quadzilla soundcard.

• Datumplane::Starsiege has a mention of an email exchange with ex-Dynamix designer Scott "CornBoy!" Youngblood saying he "won't completely leave the Tribes community (As he said in his .plan) and might even release some of the maps he was working on for Tribes Extreme."...
• More QuakeCon reminiscences are in BostonChick's QuakeCon diary...
• Wewp! Entertainment interviews Todd "Warden" Coleman talking about their upcoming RPG, Shadowbane...
• The Adrenaline Vault News reports "NovaWorld Online Cheats Discovered?" The story report s on possible malfeasance in this online service based on posts to this forum (posted 8/14/99 - thanks Mike Granito)...
• This page on FilePlanet has a new version of TRIBES Tabs, a collection of no less than 100,000 tabs for TRIBES and GameSpy (give or take)...
• Business News from Wired News reports "Game companies have filed federal racketeering suit against a nationwide ring of software pirates who methodically distributed top games, sometimes even before they were commercially available." Thanks devilbunny...

I was tooling around in the news archive today, and realize that the HTML lists between the two days of news that I removed yesterday were removed exactly one year after they were added. Weird, huh? Don't blow out those candles quite yet, I've got more anniversaries to note: I also noticed in the same foray that today is the first anniversary of the founding of Sharky Extreme, so happy birthday to Sharky and our pals over there. This is also more-or-less the third anniversary of the first QuakeCon, or as it was at the time #quakecon, as it was a 'leet IRC event to begin with.

Link of the Day: AccuWeather X-Forecast. Thanks Zdim. What, ALFs don't plan around the weather too?

The Homeworld FAQ on Relic News has been updated to version 2.2 with more of the "unofficial-semi-official" skinny on Relic's Space-Sim/Strategy game.

The Counter-Strike page has a new version 2.1 of this Half-Life mod of counter-terrorist versus terrorist combat. Thanks Billy at Voodoo Extreme. The new release adds a new version of cs_assault (compatible w/ hlserver.exe), a new scientist model for hlserver.exe, fixes telefragging, and more.

The Adrenaline Vault News has posted more details about that upcoming $50,000 Descent 3 tournament August 27-28 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Anarchy_Arts news page has word of the release (last week) of the third, and final set of materials they are distributing from Legacy of the Fallen, their cancelled add-on for Shogo: Mobile Armor Division. Saw that on PlanetShogo. The way the post is worded, this sounds to be of more interest to those creating projects, than as a game. They also state that these materials cannot be "resold or reuse in any commercial product. Use em for your TC or MOD only."

The Quake 3 Arena Bus Tour page on id's Quake 3 Arena site has an update from Anna on the first stop of the tour at a CompUSA in Arlington. The update describes the festivities, promises photos soon (maybe as soon as tomorrow), and offers a Quake III Arena t-shirt for the first person that can correctly guess at the upcoming announcement she's got on tap for tomorrow, so head on over and try and figure out what the deal is.

Q3Center's Q3Tweak page has a new version 1048.3 of this program to optimize Q3Test for visual quality and performance. The new release adds a "Funky new program logo," support for Voodoo Banshee, and more.

Valve sends word that the next patch for Half-Life (v. 1013) should be released on Wednesday morning at 10:00 AM PDT. They've already released their Primary Server Program for both Win32 and Linux (we're working on getting a local copy), but of course, this large download is useless until the new client is released. Here's a list of the changes in this new version:

• The mod browser now supports .zip file decompression.
• A new feature for server operators called "TF Stats" which takes server log files and creates a web page with the results of your TFC match.
• The server now allows banning by WON uniqueid.
• Updated TFC manual with information about running a TFC server.
• Fixed the problem where too many packets were being sent at sign-on.
• Team 4 can now score on 4-player TFC maps.
• Fixed the Soldier's nail grenades in TFC.
• Demo Playback is fixed.

In an interesting alternative to the standard anonymous FTP, Valve has released a username and password to log into their FTP server for those who want to download the Primary Server Program files:

ftp: ftp.valvesoftware.com
IP address: 63.75.210.24
login: hlserver
password: hlserver13

Dynamix' Rick Overman updated his .plan with word that the Starsiege 1.004 patch has been released, and is available for download on StarsiegePlayers.com. This patch is available in US and UK formats, and improves the OpenGL performance amongst other changes.

Extreme3D has posted an interview with Alex Garden, CEO of Relic, talking about their space shooter Homeworld, which is currently undergoing beta testing.

Ritual Programmer Mark Dochtermann updated his .plan with a clarification that the new version 1.04-1.06 patch (story) will also patch versions of Sin updated to the more recent version 1.05.

PlanetQuake's newbie guide to Q3Atest and PlanetQuake's Host your own - the Q3A:test Menace are a pair of new guides for Q3Test, respectively offering tips for newbies, and would-be server administrators.

Word from the AMD Zone is that this AMD Software Developer's Kit is new (in spite of the date), and offers support for AMD's new Athlon instructions. Also, there's a 3DNow! presentation from Siggraph 99 on the new video and graphics extensions in the Athlon 3DNow! in PDF format.

We've posted local copies of the Sin 1.01-1.06 patch (11.5 MB) and the 1.04-1.06 Patch (2.2 MB) released earlier (story).

We've just received word from Blizzard Entertainment letting the world know that at next month's ECTS show in England, Blizzard will be announcing their next game. No genre is mentioned, only that they will be holding a full press conference. Look for more details on September 5th, when they make their announcement.

Berenger "zor" Fish's .plan has word on Spool, his new map in the new just-released version 1.06 patch for Sin (story). Here's the skinny, which mentions the map's lack of Internet-friendliness:

As you may have noticed in the 1.06 patch, that I decided to release "Brain Pain", or spool.bsp. This was a map that I had fooled around with back.. well let's see, the .map file for this bit of wackyness is dated December 4th, 1998. It was only a few hours to make, but I figured why not have it see the light of day. Be forewarned, spool is probably not very internet friendly. I imagine it would be quite insane with more then 5 people.

GASource has posted three new screenshots from MDK 2, showing off their recently announced dynamic shadows feature. MDK, as everyone knows, stands for Mac Daddy Kids.

Hexagon from Ritualistic sends word of a new version 1.06 patch for Sin. Here is a local copy of the 1.04-1.06 patch (2.2 MB), which can also be used to updated version 1.05, and a local copy of the 1.01-1.06 Patch (11.5 MB). Here is Ritualistic's page for users of version 1.04 patch, and their page with a patch for users of version 1.01 Here's the deal on the patch, which includes a new map, as well as text-to-voice synthesis:

Version 1.06 includes:
======================

- New Map "Spool". Spool is a 2-5 player deathmatch map created by Zor.
- 3DNOW! code bugs/crashes have been fixed
- Savegames have been fixed
- a deathmatch-only "auto switch weapons" flag has been added. Turning this flag off will make it so that players don't automatically switch weapons when running over a new weapon.
- there is now a new messagemode for talking, messagemode3. This mode can also be accessed from typing, "say_talk".

say_talk [pitch] text

pitch - is optional, with 1 being normal, 2 being twice as high as normal and 0.5 being half as normal.

text - What ever you type will be phonetically translated and synthesized.

There's a new Running a Half-Life server FAQ on PlanetHalfLife with a load of pertinent questions and their corresponding answers about running a dedicated Half-Life or TeamFortress Classic server. Thanks ValveWorld.

A new version of the Balance Of Power mod for Starsiege TRIBES is out (thanks Datumplane::Starsiege). The new version is TRIBES 1.8 compatible, and has many changes/tweaks including pain skins. This mod give defenders options besides laying turrets and cameras, and forces would-be flag stealers and saboteurs to beat stronger defenses.

The ICQ Downloads Page has version 99b Beta v.3.17 Build #2565 of ICQ available for download (here's the list of changes). Unlike some other releases mentioned elsewhere recently, this is an official version, not a leaked alpha. Be warned, it'll change your web browser's home page - be sure to set it back to you know where. :)

John Carmack updated his .plan with details on the "dynamic code generator" he implemented into the Q3 engine to "speed up the game interpreters". If you're a programmer this will probably make sense to you, as will the rest of this massive update.

Italian site Games On Line has posted a sizable interview with Dave Perry in both English and Italian languages. The interview is illustrated with several screenshots, including the first full-frame image from Messiah ever released. You may recall that Shiny recently announced (story) that they were going to be adding a full-frame option for those not fond of the 16x9 aspect ratio.

3DFiles has posted a demo from SKOUT, the German first person shooter (described as "the new first person shooter reference"). The demo is multiplayer only and in German, so brush up on your Deutsch before downloading.

PlanetUnreal has news of a Steve Polge post to GT's Unreal Tournament forum with word from the Epic programmer on how field of view (FOV) will be handled in Epic's upcoming Unreal Tournament, as well as a mention of the game's "awesome air control." PU points out that "the sniper rifle will still lower the FOV for zooming." Here's the post:

In UT, you can set your FOV to any value greater than or equal to 80 - which covers the range of reasonable you might want to play in, but doesn't allow zooming cheats. BTW, we have awesome air control in UT, and you can adjust it in the menus when setting up a game.

- Steve Polge

Computer Games Online's Drakan: Quick Take is up, offering first impressions of Psygnosis and Surreal's upcoming game of dragon riding action, along with some brand new screenshots to whet your appetite for the game, again, due in stores this Friday. Thanks Drakan.Net.

The third installment in Computer Games Online's SWAT 3 preview is online, to once again get you humming the Cops theme while you read, this time about the way physics will be handled in Sierra's upcoming game of law enforcement. The discussion specifically targets the way ballistics will work, talking to Rod Fung, the game's producer, about the subject.

• Tweak3D has posted some NEON 250 screenshots they were sent by "a source close to VideoLogic," so you should keep the vague source in mind when checking them out.
• 3D Spotlight's Card Cooler review is online.
• The Tech Zone reviews the AMK LAN-0334 Overclocker's Case.
• Dan's Data reviews the IBM 42H1292 keyboard. Yup, a keyboard review.
• Glide Underground reviews the Storm Platinum Gamers Pack soundcard/force feedback headphones combo. That's right, force feedback headphones!
• Ingava reviews the Vortex2 SuperQuad Digital PCI soundcard.

Planet Drakan posted a new screenshot yesterday, and followed it up with another to show off the the Crypt effect from the shot of the day in better detail. Though Drakan.Net, where I spotted this, says this may be the last shot posted before the game's release (on August 20), they seem to be kidding, as their post is punctuated with a grin, and the caption on the first Planet Drakan shot refers to having enough shots in the vault to "last until the 20th."

I.am-KingPin has posted four new Kingpin deathmatch levels for download, along with reviews of each map, bringing their (his? I's? my?) Kingpin DM map collection up to 15 new maps.

Sharky Extreme's Interview with a Vampire talks with Ray Gresko, one of the nihilists from Nihilistic. The Q&A talks with the president, CEO, designer, project leader, and programmer about wearing all those hats, and gets the lowdown on progress on Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption, their upcoming third-person action game so cool it rates two sub-titles.

Sujoy.com has Sujoy Roy's QuakeCon recap, giving a UK Quaker's perspective on the event, the tournament, and Texas (though no nominees for "stud of the show" like the Violent Femmes in the story that follows).

The Violent Femmes QuakeCon '99 photos are online offering some shots of the festivities, including a shot of the maintainers of this here website, as well as a photo homage to Paul Steed, who they declared "the Stud of QuakeCon '99."

Due to some recent server woes, the deadline on the PlanetStarSiege TRIBES Demo Contest has been extended through tonight at Midnight PDT (or maybe they mean it when they say PST). The contest is looking for "the most action-packed, the most CPU-pounding, the most intense demo of TRIBES that you can make!" The grand prize will be a coveted spot on the beta testing team for Starsiege TRIBES 2.

• Next-Generation Online reviews Darkstone. Saw that on 3DNow.net.
• GameSpot reviews Darkstone.
• Online Combat reviews Darkstone.
• The Adrenaline Vault Reviews Dungeon Keeper 2.
• GA-Source reviews Dungeon Keeper 2.
• AnandTech reviews the Supermicro 370SWD i810 microATX Socket-370 motherboard.
• Also, AnandTech.com reviews the Gainward CARDEXpert TNT2.

• There's an edited IRC log on Wewp! Entertainment with the developers of Shadowbane, an upcoming online "player versus player" RPG...
• DeathCon.com's Clan Domain name dealie can create a "virtual host name" for your game server...
• CGF Bot Central has relocated (usually moves can be handled by forwarding pages, but it looks like their former host isn't providing one)...

I spent some time knocking about the HTML for the top of the news page, and was able to remove some of the lists that usually fall between the two days of news, made possible by the loonygames summer hiatus (so no need for the new on loonygames listing for a while). Turns out I had the font size in my browser whacked, so if you were wondering why headlines had been wrapping oddly lately, it's because they still looked right to me. A quick rundown on some other site stuff in the works here: First off, the results of last week's contest will go up along with the new contest over the next couple of days, it got lost in the shuffle of QuakeCon, and I want whatever day it gets posted to be the regular day from now on (we also have hopefully overcome my interference in the prize distribution that will get any still-unsent prizes out the door). We seem to have gotten the wacky SQL errors under control that will lead to the unveiling of some other new features, and we may have our first messageboard online as soon as today, I'll talk a bit about the plan for messageboards going forward when that happens. Also fairly imminent is the news customization previously discussed, which would probably have killed the site if we launched it before the database errors were solved, but now that the errors have abated we'll probably gear up for a stab at it pretty soon (it is still unknown what impact soaring CGI use will ultimately have on the webserver so these changes will bring some anxious moments). Finally (there's more I'm sure, but this is more than enough for now), the return of the Help Wanted section will come a bit further down the road, and when the section is revived, it will be fully user-automated (like the LAN parties listing), but until then the link to the old Want Ads has been removed from the menu.

Link of the Day: The Weekly's list of Good and Bad Deaths Thanks Bagpuss. Gotta love the prospect of : "Being the last survivor of your generation, so when researchers come to talk to you, you just make up a lot of stupid facts and cause all subsequent history books to be wrong."