As promised, the new Tread Marks demo is now available for download on the official site. Tread Marks is the tank racing game by Longbow Digital Arts, and the new demo features three maps to race (and shoot) on with three tank types in single- and multi-player. The demo weighs in at a reasonable 22 MB.

Bungie has announced that they will be broadcasting thirty minutes of new footage from every day of this week's MacWorld expo in San Francisco. A full schedule is listed in the press release, with each day featuring a preview from one of their upcoming games (Oni or Halo) as well as a brief interview with a staff member and a behind the scenes at Bungie piece. Look for the first broadcast on Wednesday at their official site.

More FAQing updates today, as the unofficial Quake III Arena FAQ by SilverStream has been updated with new and augmented questions and their corresponding answers, and also moved to a new home. Additionally, the System Shock 2 FAQ on GameFAQs has been updated with "more stuff" too.

The semi-regular StarLancer Weekly Screenshots on GameRush have been updated with a new image of a pilot character, a change of pace from what had previously only been screenshots taken from controls of various spacecraft in this upcoming space sim from Microsoft, Digital Anvil, and Warthog.

There's another Digital Extremes interview on GameFan talking with Everton Richards, a modeler and concept artist on Unreal Tournament. The Q&A discusses his work on UT for Digital Extremes, as well as touching on their next project, and offers up some concept art of a spaceship.

Killer's Map Repository has a new version 1.2 of MKLog, a Quake III Arena statistics generator. The new release adds HTML templates to the output options offered by this log parser, and fixes a load of bugs from the last version.

Skinning 101 has a new release of the Skinlinker utility for Quake III Arena that creates the .skin files needed to link the skin image files to the models in Quake III Arena. The new version allows you to add new skins to existing pk3 files, add extra descriptions to each skins readme file, and offers improved error correction. The program still only works with about 10 Q3A models, with the promise of the config files for more soon.

The Quake Info Pool has posted some interesting news for those of you tooling around with the recently released Quake 1 source code. They've posted an e-mail exchange they conducted with id Software's Dave "Zoid" Kirsch, which confirms that the source code does in fact contain the previously unreleased GL Quake version 1.0, complete with a list of changes. Also, they send word that there's a tutorial for compiling the source with LCC up on Jeff Ford's site.

A new version of DeeP97, a level editor for Doom that's compatible with the ZDoom, Legacy, and DosDoom ports has been released and is available for download on its official site (thanks Jacek Fedoryñski). This new version has improvements for ZDoom users amongst other changes.

Wired's Vaporware '99 The 'Winners' is online, offering their annual commentary on software that did not appear during the year as expected. This year's list, topped by the now aptly-named Windows 2000, has a pair of gaming entries, as Diablo II is number four, and Daikatana makes the list at number five, referred to in the article as "still a gleam in John Romero's eye." On the optimistic side, Unreal has gone on to be a successful franchise after being the last game to receive this dubious distinction in Wired's Vaporware 1997 list.

We've got just the cure for a slow Monday afternoon - a new edition of our wacky Mail Bag. In this week's thrill-packed installment: lots of talk about the Quake (1) source code, Q3A mlook, Rise of the Triad, game music, and naturally much more. Swing by and check it out.

Epic Programmer Brandon "GreenMarine" Reinhart updated his .plan with word of a resource for C programming in Unreal Tournament, suitable not only for mod authors, but full-blown licensees:

If you are interested in C++ programming with the UT open source, please join the openut-development list at sourceforge. We are getting into some nitty gritty details that will definitely help programmers get to know the Unreal engine.

In fact, licensees might be interested in joining as well.

You can find the list signup at openut.sourceforge.net on the root project page.

You got questions? We've got answers in the form of updated FAQs and walkthroughs: There's a new GameFAQs Nocturne walkthrough on how to successfully navigate TRI's horror game. Also the GameFAQs Unreal Tournament FAQ is now online. Also the semi-official Half-Life Opposing Force Frequently Asked Questions has been updated to version 2.0. Finally, Part II of the Wheel of Time strategy guide is up on ShadarLogoth.com.

Talkin' Nasty With Nihilistic's Rob Huebner on Voodoo Extreme is one of those saucy Q&A's this time talking with the Nihilistic programmer about work on Vampire: The Masquerade--Redemption, Nihilistic's upcoming third-person vampire RPG.

• Creative Labs Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT Unified Drivers page has an updated version of these drivers that allow Glide on Creative's cards that use NVIDIA chipsets that now will work for GeForce256-based cards. Thanks RIVA 3D.
• HardwareCentral December Buyer's Guide is online.
• Ars Technica G4 vs. K7 "an architectural look at two post-RISC processors."
• Matrox G400MAX is reviewed on Cole3D.
• ELSA ERAZOR X² GeForce 256 DDR is reviewed on Sharky Extreme.
• The ASUS V6600 is reviewed on Gamers Depot.
• Aureal Vortex 2 SQ2500 Quad PCI soundcard is reviewed on BoomGames Interactive.
• The Ultimate Hard Drive Cooler is reviewed on Overclockers Australia.

A few updates to classic Quake based on the recently released source code: The Quake Standards Group has released a small collection of graphical modifications to GLQuake to "demonstrate some of the nifty new stuff that's being done with Quake. The showcase feature of this quickly assembled package is SaRcaZm's coloured lighting." Also, the Quake Info Pool has released a new version of the Quake source that fixes some bugs as well as an "enhanced QuakeC with an EndFrame function without breaking compatibility with older PROGS.DAT." Finally, Wally's Home has a bug fix from Neal White to allow GLQuake to properly display fullbright textures like the software renderer does. Word is that Neal's bugfix will be integrated in the next code release from the Quake Info Pool.

We received a follow-up from John V. Matthews, the author of the script for Linux Unreal Tournament operators posted yesterday (story) to clarify the script's true purpose, which was not accurate as first written (though it turns out it can be used for that purpose as well). Here's the dope:

As the author of the bash script (for UT Linux + Unreal) you mentioned on your page, I think I should clarify what the script does. I was curious if, as had been mentioned before the release of UT, Unreal maps could indeed be played with UT. Yes, you can play the DM maps that came with Unreal and my script allows Linux users to set up symbolic links from their UnrealTournament/Maps directory to a mounted Unreal CD-ROM, thus allowing them to play the original Unreal maps without actually installing them on their hard drive. The links are named such that the new maps will show up in UT's in-game map browser.

While this trick could be modified to work with all of UT maps themselves (so that the UT maps need not be stored on the hard drive but remain on the UT CD), that's not what my script is for and I thought I should point it out.

Another $100,000 Event for the CPL is the announcement that in addition to their upcoming tournament in Los Angeles that will offer 100 grand in cash prizes, the FRAG4 is going to offer $100,000 in cash prizes as well. FRAG 4 is scheduled to take place at Hyatt Regency Dallas Hotel on October 27-29, 2000 and the online registration site will be located at www.frag4.com. The website will go live in April 2000.

• Age of Wonders on Electric Games.
• Flight Unlimited 3 on PC Gamer UK.
• Grand Theft Auto 2 on PC Gamer UK.
• Half-Life: Opposing Force on Game Forces.
• Jagged Alliance 2 on Stratos Group
• Nations Fighter Command on PC Gamer UK.
• Pharaoh on MPOG.
• Star Trek: Hidden Evil on MPOG.
• SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle on Game-Guru.net.
• Tomb Raider: the Last Revelation on Games Weekly.
• Unreal Tournament on Game-Guru.net, Exxtreme3D, and Planet Nukem.
• Wild Wild West on Game-Guru.net.

• The Millennium Fashion Awards on 3D Palette offer recognition for user made skins and models for various games including Half-Life, Quake II, Quake III Arena, and Unreal...
• DSLReports.com has a whole bunch of resources for the pursuit, care, and feeding of your high-speed Internet connection. Thanks Ryan Stotts...
• Toutes les commandes Quake3 is a rundown on Quake III Arena console commands in French...
• Housemarque.com has posted a new patch for SupremeSnowboarding that updates the game from version 1.033 to 1.035. Thanks 3DColony.

Well the startlingly slow New Year's weekend has crawled to a close, I hope all of you who partied had a safe, happy, and healthy celebration. Things are looking up in my battle against Xaero on Hardcore... I got two frags in one match! I thought his ability to rail me from the air when I used a jump-pad was funny until I saw the way he can rail me while he is in the air after bouncing. Ouch.

Link of the Day: 104 Things To Do With A Banana. And not one of them the obvious! Thanks Alex.
Story of the Day: Man Raided Homes for Pricey Lingerie, Cops Say. Thanks Shambler.

A new version 0.3 of UTMap is up on Unreality. UTMap is a utility that will rename and save maps to your map folder that you download in-game, can build maplists for DM, CTF, Domination, Assault and LMS training sessions and servers, gives the ability to play DM or LMS on any CTF, Assault, or Domination map, play CTF on any DM map (no flags, no captures), and more.

A new version 2.09 patch for BattleCruiser 3000 is available from the Galcom News Network. The new patch is believed to be the "last update to a legendary product," and offers "a couple of minor fixes and a few more enhancements to certain areas in flight dynamics, power allocation, threat systems etc." as well as two new Tour Of Duty mission scenarios, consisting of six brand new advanced missions. The update about the patch goes into a bit about the future plans for the series, which currently center around the upcoming BattleCruiser Millennium.

This bash script on LinuxGames (direct link) can be used by Linux UT server operators to properly link Unreal Tournament's map files from the CD to the UT map directory in the way the game expects. By using this script, Linux UT server administrators need not copy the map files to the server's hard drive. Thanks Jacek Fedoryñski.

There's a new installment of the Vampire The Masquerade--Redemption Design Log on RPGVault, this time authored by Maarten Kraaijvanger of Nihilistic's art department talking about designing elements for their upcoming third-person game that celebrates the joys of parasitism. Thanks Voodoo Extreme.

Better than yesterday, but undeniably a two-bit update:

• A new version 2.6 of the PowerStrip video card/monitor control utility is now available. Thanks 3D Files and Manuel Franz. The new version offers unified Win95-Win2K support.
• The Creative Labs 3D Annihilator Pro is reviewed on RIVA 3D.

The version 1.04 source code for the CronosBots for Hexen II is now available, apparently significantly changed, "so don't expect simple comparability, etc." Also available as a separate download is "a new version of the Hexen2 HexenC compiler hcc, which will exceed the 65536 statements."

• Age of Wonders on Adrenaline Vault.
• Driver on GameArena.Net.
• Half-Life: Opposing Force on Screaming3D.
• Odium on Adrenaline Vault.
• Quake III Arena on GameWire.Org and PCGN.
• Revenant on Glide Underground.
• Unreal Tournament versus Quake III Arena on Window Planet.
• Unreal Tournament on Damage Gaming and PCGN.

• ATFW interviews Peter Lazarus of Exile Entertainment, currently at work on Genesis Gate, a single-player and multi-player space sim...
• The Counter-Strike website has tips on editing your cfg for this Half-Life mod if you are have the problems some are reporting with increased lag. Thanks Concrete. Speaking of CS, 3D Palette interviews Gooseman about the mod, and what's up with beta 5...
• Synchroplay has made their monthly update to their extensive skin libraries, which now include nine Unreal Tournament Skins, 197 TRIBES skins, 344 Kingpin skins, as well as over 1500 Roller Coaster Tycoon Rides, and 25 NASCAR Racing 3 Paint Schemes...
• The TeamTNT Homepage has the release of hub one of Doom2000, their "megawad" for ZDoom (only), consisting of seven levels in a hub format. Thanks Jacek Fedoryñski...
• Speaking of TeamTNT, 3D Alpha interviews Mark Klem, talking with this musician whose work can be found in the famed Memento Mori and Memento Mori II Doom TCs...

Wow, the combination of the turning of the New Year and the weekend has made for what would so far seem to be a record slow news weekend. Hopefully one of the things this indicates is what a good time celebrating everyone is having. I finally got to the final level on Quake III Arena, and while I'm not going to give up hope without giving it some more effort, I have a feeling I am never going to beat that Xaero character on the Hardcore skill level, which makes me boggle at those of you who can take him out on nightmare... I feel like a duck in a shooting gallery .

Link of the Day: DSigns.com. Compare their disclaimers about Y2K compliance with their Y2K countdown calculator. Thanks Bradley "Producer" Ouimette.
Bonus Link: Cassini Now. Thanks Ron. Disclaimers or not, I suppose it's funnier when the date glitch occurs at NASA. After all, they are rocket scientists...
Story of the Day: Chernobyl virus author lands at Taiwan tech firm (CNET). Thanks Phil "Cain" Hall. "Our chairman felt he was a rare computer professional and we decided to accept him with an open heart,'' said Wahoo spokeswoman Vivi Wang.
Bonus Story: Prison guards sacked over birthday spanking of inmate. Thanks Nick.